Spring Break for Degrassi
by Ella725
Summary: What happens when the students of Degrassi find themselves at the beach for spring break? Hilarity  and drama  ensues. Mostly Clare/Eli and Ali/Drew some Holly J/Sav/Declan.
1. Dreaming of Leaving

**Clare's POV**

"Eli!" I screamed running down the hallway. Eli was at his locker and turned to look at who was calling his name. He looked completely confused and surprised which I had expected. I must have looked like a crazy person, running down the hallway at full speed waving my English paper in the air. By the time I reached him I was too tired to even speak and was panting loudly. Eli smirked.

"Not exactly the athletic type, are you Clare?" I stopped panting and smacked his arm. He laughed and continued putting his books in his bag. I waved the paper in his face.

"I got an A on my English paper! The world is finally right again!" I said triumphantly. He smiled again and shook his head.

"Congrats, Clare. Another A to add to your collection." I playfully nudged his shoulder.

"I couldn't have done it without you, _English partner_." Before I could read his reaction I heard Ali shouting my name from down the hallway and she didn't seem too happy.

"Catch up with you later?" I asked hopefully. He nodded and walked down the row of lockers towards Adam.

"What was his reaction to your A?" Ali asked walking over. I shrugged. As usual

I couldn't read him.

"Well forget about him for a minute and focus on my problems?" I rolled my eyes.

"And what problem are we talking about now?" We started walking towards the front doors together. Sav was driving both of us home now that he was no longer grounded.

"Spring break, duh! Drew, my boyfriend-"

"You just love saying 'my boyfriend' don't you," I said. She said 500 times every day since they started going out.

"Anyways, he and everyone else in this entire school is going to the beach! How am I supposed to go 2 weeks without seeing him!" I knew she was just being overdramatic but she had a good point. A majority of the school was going to the beach. I even overheard Adam inviting Eli to stay at his beach house with him.

"Ok, I would love to go to the beach just as much as you would but neither of us have beach houses! It's not going to happen," I sighed. The thought of spending two weeks lying in the sun sounded exactly like what I needed. Ali had a mischievous smile on that worried me.

"That's why I came up with a plan."

**Eli's POV**

"What was Clare so excited about?" Adam asked, getting into Morty.

"English paper." Adam nodded in understanding. Eli remembered how happy she had seemed but what Eli had noticed more was Fitz staring at her from his locker. Eli wanted to scream at him to stay away from her but he was worried it might freak Clare out. Adam noticed his worried expression.

"Don't worry about it; In one week we'll be far away from all this drama." That's what he was worried about.


	2. Making Plans

**Author's Note: Please Reveiw!**

**Clare's POV**

"There is no way this is going to work," I said shaking my head. In front of me on Ali's dining room table several cell phones and a house phone were laid out all with the same number pre-dialed.

"It has to and it will," Ali said confidently. A couple days ago Ali heard about a radio contest for two weeks all-expenses paid beach vacation. Together Ali and I did more research and found out that the 10th caller would win two weeks in a huge beach house at the most popular and exclusive beach for miles.

"There's less than a one in five hundred chance of us winning," I said trying to be pessimistic. I was mentally preparing myself for Ali's breakdown when we lost. She hit my arm hard. "Shush it's about to start!" Ali cranked the radio to full volume and put one hand on the call button of a phone. I shook my head and did the same. The announcer on the radio called start and Ali and I went crazy pushing buttons on all the phones we could before the voice said they had found a winner. Ali and I froze, completely paralyzed.

"Hello? You are the lucky winner! Anyone there?" The voice wasn't coming from the radio but from Ali's cell phone. We broke out of our shock and Ali grabbed her phone.

"Yes, I'm here! Our names are Ali and Clare," she said into the phone.

"You two have won a luxurious beach vacation to ..." Ali lost it and we both started screaming and jumping up and down.

"I can't believe we won!"

**Holly J's POV**

I lazily swirled my coffee with my spoon as Fiona went on and on about the new beach house her family had bought. Lately I wasn't able to focus on whatever Fiona was talking about because I was so wrapped up in my own misery. For example, my tragic and messy break-up with Declan or the SATs which were only weeks away.

"So anyways are you in?"

"Huh?" I said. Fiona gave me an annoyed glare.

"Do you want to come to the beach with me or not?" She asked impatiently.

"It sounds great Fiona but ..."

"Then it's settled. We leave Saturday morning." I shook my head.

"Fiona you know I can't. Won't Declan be there? And I have work and SAT tutoring ..." I trailed off, getting stressed from just thinking about all the things I had to do. So much for a fun spring break.

"Declan will only be there for a couple of days and I promise you'll barely see him," she said. I wasn't convinced."Please? You're the only real friend I can invite! It'll be so boring if I have to sit in the big huge mansion all by myself," she begged. I could feel myself giving in. I was about to say no when loud shrieking noises came from the radio. Two sophomore girls just won a beach vacation. They sounded happy and excited. If they could have fun why couldn't I?

"Alright, I'll go."


	3. On Our Way

**Author's Note: Please, please, please reveiw!**

**KC's point of view**

"I can't believe we get to spend the next two weeks together," I said looping my arm around Jenna's waist, pulling her closer. She giggled and playfully pushed me away.

"I can't wait! My aunt's beach house is amazing, and she's super cool too. Just us, no drama or interruptions, or school," she said. I leaned in to kiss her but she pecked my cheek and walked to the car. "But we still have to deal with my aunt and cousins," she added. I rolled my eyes.

"Wait, cousins? As in plural? I thought just the one in college was coming and only for a couple of days," I said confused. She played with the fringes of her shirt.

"I may have forgotten to tell you something," she said guiltily. Before I could process what she had said I looked down to find a little girl clinging to my leg and trying to pull my pants down.

"Jenna, is this Casey? I thought you said he was cute," the little girl said. She was sort of sweet in an obnoxious and annoying sort of way. Jenna reached down and pulled her off of me.

"Annie, cut it out," she hissed but loud enough so I could hear.

"Sorry," Jenna's aunt called, running down the driveway. "The babysitter canceled on me last minute and it looks like Annie will be joining us on the beach." Jenna shot me an apologetic look.

"You two don't mind looking after her during the trip do you?" she said looking from me to Jenna.

"I think we can manage her," Jenna said. Annie stuck her tongue out at me.

It was going to be a long two weeks.

**Ali's POV**

"This is such bull!" I shouted slamming my bedroom door behind me. Clare sat on my bed looking tired and broken down. "We completely beat the odds by winning this amazing contest and now we can't even go!"

"Stupid parents," Clare mumbled under her breathe. As much as she tried to act indifferent I knew she was looking forward to this as much as I was.

"We even made PowerPoint presentations! All they had to say was 'I can't take time off of work' or 'you need parental supervision.'" I slumped down next to Clare.

"All that for nothing."

"Now Drew's going to meet some beach tramp and hate me for the rest of my life," I sighed. I could see them walking down the beach together, playing games at the boardwalk together, even rubbing suntan lotion on each others' backs. I looked over at Clare; she had gone completely pale and had a horrified expression on her face. I could tell she was thinking about Eli. I hadn't gotten her to admit liking him yet but I had seen the way she acted around him. Saying it aloud wasn't necessary. All of a sudden I felt my bed vibrating.

"Don't tell me you got another vibrator . . ." Clare gave me an extremely pissed of glare and pushed me off the bed.

"It's just my phone, stupid," she said as I got up off the floor. Even thought I was in a horrible mood, I laughed at my own joke. "That's weird . . . it's from Darcy."

"Isn't she supposed to come home next week?" I asked. Clare had been ecstatic when Darcy called home saying she was coming back for a visit. Clare ignored me and walked over to my window and pulled the curtain aside. I walked over to where she was standing and I could see a bright red convertible parked on the street.

"Darcy's text said to look outside but I don't see anything but that convertible. Whose is that?" Clare asked. I shrugged and watched as an extremely tan teenage girl got out and walked up to my front door. Clare squealed and ran down without explaining to me what was going on. I felt absolutely clueless for once.

Downstairs Clare was hugging the life out of the girl from the convertible. It took me several minutes to realize it was Darcy.

"Someone told me you need a ride to the beach."

**Adam's POV**

"This is going to be the best vacation ever!" I yelled punching the air. Eli and Drew both laughed at me.

"Don't hurt yourself there big guy," Drew said from the backseat of the minivan. I looked over to Eli and he just laughed and shook his head.

"You guys aren't excited?" I asked in fake shock. The two of them hadn't been as thrilled as I was when we left my house early this morning.

"Girlfriend, remember? What fun is the beach if I can't talk to hot girls in tiny bathing suits?" Drew asked.

"What's your excuse?" I asked nudging Eli. I knew originally he was worried about Fitz trying something with Clare while he was gone, but Fitz was going to the beach too and as far as we knew Clare was staying home. Didn't that mean he had nothing to worry about?

"Don't worry about me. I just want to get as far away from Degrassi as possible," he sighed never taking his eyes of the window. Drew took out his video camera and started playing around with it.

"Dude, what are you doing?" I asked. He couldn't figure out how to get the cap off the lens.

"Long story, but I told Ali I'd take videos of everything." He sighed. "I don't see the point but she says it has something to do with missing me." I chuckled and mumbled something about being whipped under my breath. Drew responded by slapping the back of my head.

"Guys, check this out," Eli said pointing to a cherry red convertible next to us. Three girls were sitting in the car and seemed to be waving their arms like crazy and screaming at the top of their lungs. Drew flipped open the camera and started filming.

"Are they singing?" I asked. We all found the whole scene amusing because of the crazy way they all looked. The dark skinned one in the back's hair was flying like crazy, the one in the passenger seat couldn't stop laughing and the driver was singing as loudly as she could. Drew rolled down his window but rolled it back up immediately.

"Not very well," he said and we all cracked up. Even my parents in the front seat laughed. Drew was zooming in on their faces when he suddenly froze in shock. Eli and I looked at him confused and looked back at the girls. Eli saw whatever Drew saw and froze too. I still didn't get it.

"What's wrong, guys?" I asked. Eli looked at me wide-eyed.

"I think we know them," he said. "The one in the passenger seat kind of looks like Clare." She had short hair like Clare but there was no way to really tell.

"The one in the back looks like Ali," Drew added. I couldn't help but laugh at them. There was no way that it was Ali and Clare.

"You guys are so paranoid! If that's Ali and Clare then who's the girl driving? And there's no way you can tell it's them!" Then the girl in the back pulled her hair back into a ponytail and turned her head towards our car. My jaw dropped.

"I told you! It's totally them!" Drew said laughing. "I can't believe this!" he added, zooming in on them. Eli seemed focused on Clare's face so I looked two. Over the entire school year I had seen Clare experience a lot of emotions. I had seen her worried, tired, confused, angry, gloomy, annoyed, and fake-cheerful, but one of the things I noticed about Clare was that she hardly ever allowed herself to relax and just be happy. But as she yelled the lyrics to some cheesy pop song she seemed truly happy. Eli's strange look turned into a smile.

"This is classic," he said. We went into another round of hysterics.

"Hello, YouTube," Drew said zooming out.


	4. Arrival

**Clare's POV**

Darcy parked the convertible in the driveway of the largest house I had ever seen. I was still in complete shock that we were even here, that Darcy was even home, and the fact Ali and I actually won a contest. It had been no easy task getting here, though. After Darcy showed up she offered to take Ali and me to the beach for the two weeks and act as our chaperone. I had a feeling she was really just avoiding seeing anyone she knew from Degrassi. It took a lot of arguing and convincing to get our parents approval but they all agreed that Darcy was responsible enough to watch over us.

"This house is sick!" Darcy said, pulling her suitcase out of the trunk. The red convertible was a rental car Darcy got for the ride from the airport to our house, since no one knew she was coming home early. When she heard about the beach trip she extended the rental. "You guys are seriously lucky."

Ali and I struggled to get our suitcases out of the car and into the house. The inside was even bigger than the outside. The first floor had two small bedrooms and a den with a TV. The second floor had a huge foyer and living room which opened into the kitchen and dining room. The entire floor had a wrap-around porch and the back porch had a staircase that led directly onto the beach. The upstairs had two much larger bedrooms, which was where we were going to be sleeping. One room had two beds and the other had one king size bed. Darcy claimed that she should get the bigger bed because she was the oldest. Ali argued that the entire contest was her idea but I convinced her to let it go.

"Clare, we have walk-in closets!" Ali yelled from the top floor. I smiled but didn't move from my spot on the deck. I had only been to the beach a couple times and the last time had been years ago, so it felt amazing to watch the waves again. I had an increasingly good feeling about the next two weeks.

When I got upstairs Ali was unpacking all her clothes in the closet. Her suitcase had been the biggest out of the three. She blasted her iPod and I started unpacking too.

"Can you believe how amazing this house is?" she asked taking out the skimpiest bathing suit I had ever seen. "I did some research too. Adam and Drew's beach house is in the same neighborhood so we're bound to see them soon."

"How do you know that?" I didn't put it past Ali to cyber-stalk Drew.

"Twitter," she said guiltily. I threw one of my bathing suits at her and she laughed.

"You're such a stalker!" She made no response but played with the bathing suit I had thrown at her.

"What is this?" she asked unfolding my one-piece.

"It's a bathing suit. Isn't that obvious?" I asked. I tried to grab it back from her but she held it out of my reach.

"There is no way you're wearing this. You need to wear something that shows off your body, not hides it." I had to admit, it was pretty conservative.

"I prefer comfort over appearances," I said proudly. She walked over to my open suitcase and took out all my bathing suits and replaced them with the skimpy bikini I had noticed earlier.

"Not when I'm around."

**Fiona's POV**

"This place is amazing, Fiona," Holly J said, spinning around our bedroom. You would think she had never been in a beach house before.

"It's pretty nice I guess," I sighed. We had already unpacked and were getting changed for the beach. Holly J kept getting distracted by the view from our window.

"I can't believe the beach is so close!" I shook my head and laughed at her. It's a beach house; it's supposed to be close to the beach. I was beginning to worry about her mental sanity, and was about say so when there was a knock on the door.

"I thought I heard you, Fifi." Declan walked into the room smiling. Instead of seeing me, the first thing he noticed was Holly J. His eyes met hers and both became sullen and serious looking. It was all very awkward and totally boring.

"Hi, Declan. We were about to head to the beach. Join us?" I asked. His eyes seemed glued to Holly J, and she looked like she was about to break down crying. I know I can be pretty dramatic at times but this was just disgusting.

"Can't, I'm going golfing with Dad. I'll see you later," he said, closing the door behind him. Holly J didn't move for a minute and then turned to me.

"I thought you said he wasn't going to be here?" This wasn't going to go well.

**Drew's POV**

"Next time we're in the car for longer than an hour you're sitting in the back," I said stretching. My legs we're so stiff I could barely stand up.

"You have to admit that that was a pretty funny car ride," Adam said. Eli laughed and pushed him out of the car, jumping out behind him. He took a moment to absorb the house and the surrounding houses.

"Nice house you've got," he said in awe. It wasn't the nicest house on the street but it was pretty cool. Adam and I have been coming here each year since we were toddlers. Adam and I shrugged. I looked around too and noticed a very eye-catching car in the driveway of the house across the street.

"Guys," I said, pointing to the car. Both of their jaws dropped.

"No way. That cannot be possible," Adam said. I shook my head, rubbed my eyes and looked again. The car was still there.

"Wait, millions of that car are made every year. That could be anyone's," Eli said, acting as the voice of reason.

"You're right, it's too big of a coincidence," Adam said, clearly not believing his own words. I was caught in the middle too. We forgot about the car for a minute and went to open the trunk. We had forgotten about how clumsily and haphazardly we had packed the car and opened it without thinking. All of our stuff spilled out and fell all over the driveway.

We were scrambling to pick up our stuff when three girls walked out of the house across the street in their bathing suits and walked over to the boardwalk which led to the beach. There was no doubt it was Ali, Clare and some other girl I didn't know. Ali was wearing a tight bikini that barely covered anything, and the three of them were giggling girlishly. None of us could help but stare.

The three of us stood awkwardly in the driveway and didn't move at all, scared they might notice us. The three girls never even glanced in our direction. To say we were shocked by the entire thing would have been a huge understatement.

"I don't know what to say," Adam whispered. He didn't know the half of it.


	5. Walks and waves

**Author's Note: I couldn't stop writting :) I hope you like it and please reveiw!**

**Ali's POV**

Clare and I set up our towels and lay down in the sand, listening to the waves. The beach around us was practically empty except for one family several yards away and Darcy who set up a couple of feet away. Clare was wearing one of my bathing suits after an intense argument and a game of keep-away. I had to say she looked pretty damn good, too.

"Stop staring at my boobs, Ali," Clare said nudging me.

"You have to admit, the bathing suit looks good on you. I don't get why you feel the need to hide your body," I said. She ignored me and closed her eyes. In the corner of my eyes I saw a couple guys walking down the boardwalk to the beach.

"Clare, hot guys," I said nudging her again. She groaned and mumbled something about a boyfriend. "Not for me! I was talking about for you." As they came closer I could see one of them was holding a video camera and . . . was he filming us?

"Hey perv, stop filming us," I yelled, extremely annoyed. This guy had another thing coming if he thought I was just going to sit here and act pretty for his camera.

"You're one to talk, stalker," he yelled back. I recognized his voice but it took me a moment to figure out who he was.

"Drew?" I stood up, getting sand all over Clare in the process. I ran to hug him but he greeted me with a quick kiss. I nearly melted in his arms.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. It wasn't possible for them to know we would be here.

"Me? What are _you_ doing here?" he responded. I wasn't sure how to explain how we had ended up here.

"Clare and I won a radio contest," I said pointing to Clare who was struggling to get the sand off of her. She gave them a feeble wave. "I'm guessing your beach house is around here." He nodded. We walked back towards Clare and everyone was introduced to Darcy, who was generally disinterested and walked back to her spot in the sand. So much for being a good chaperone.

We were all sitting in the sand talking when Drew wrapped his arm around my waist. "Want to go for a walk?" he whispered in my ear. His mouth was so close to ear I could feel his breathing. I couldn't get any words out so I nodded and he grabbed my hand and pulled me up. He put his arm around my shoulder as we walked along the ocean.

I had a feeling that this was going to be one amazing vacation.

**Jenna's POV**

So I had forgotten to tell KC about Annie. I had meant to tell him but I wasn't sure how to tell him. But KC seemed fine with it so I told myself to stop worrying about it. It didn't really stop me.

Annie sat right between KC and me during the car ride making it impossible to even talk to him. The entire time Annie refused to sit still, and talked constantly. KC stayed calm though and was really nice to her. I still wanted to strangle her.

When we got to the house we finally got some relief. Annie and my aunt headed straight to the beach, while KC and I stayed behind. Before I knew it we were making out on the couch.

"We have to stop," he said getting up abruptly. I tried to pull him back down but he stepped away from me. "Your aunt and Annie could walk back in any second." I sighed.

"So much for this vacation being about just us," I say just as Annie ran into the room covered in sand.

"Mommy says you two have to come to the beach with me," she yells pulling my arm. I roll my eyes and look at KC but he's smiling at her and taking her hand as they walk downstairs together. Stupid Annie.

**Eli's POV**

"How far do you think they walked?" Adam asked. Drew and Ali had disappeared from our sight a couple minutes ago and there was no sign of them coming back any time soon. Truthfully, I didn't really mind.

"Not very far. Ali hates exercise," Clare said, fidgeting with her bathing suit. She was wearing an extremely small bikini and didn't look very comfortable in it. Despite that she still looked crazy hot. In a weird innocent Clare kind of way at least.

"You know, I never pictured you as the tiny bikini type," I said, knowing it was going to push her buttons. As predicted she crossed her arms and gave me an angry look.

"And what exactly did you picture me wearing?" she asked. Adam stifled a laugh and I raised an eyebrow and smirked. Realizing how that sounded she blushed and quickly added, "Don't answer that."

"I'll be right back. I want to make sure my parents unpacked everything," Adam said as he stood up, stretched and turned to leave. I was confused because we had finished unpacking the car before we came down to the beach. As he was walking away from us he turned and winked at me. If he was trying to set me and Clare up, it wasn't going to work.

"So you have a sister?" I asked, looking back at Darcy. She was lying on a towel and blasting her iPod full volume. She didn't seem anything like Clare at all.

"Yeah, I do. She's been in Kenya for the past year we haven't really seen each other in a while. We used to be pretty close," Clare said looking towards the water. By the look on her face I could tell it was sort of a sore subject for her. As I watched her look at the water I got an idea.

"Uh-oh," she said turning her face to me.

"What's uh-oh?" I asked, faking innocence. My smirk grew bigger.

"You have that look on your face."

"What look?" I asked, moving my face closer to hers. Her eyes we're locked on mine and she was smiling again.

"The look you get when you're up to something." I grabbed my chance and scooped her up and threw her over my shoulder so that I was holding her in a fireman hold. She started screaming and giggling, begging me to put her down. I ran as fast as I could toward the water, where I let her go. She was still laughing and punching me lightly as a wave it both of us knocking us down onto the sand. She looked adorable and mad really happy at the same time. I couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard.

"I am so going to get you back for that," she said between gasps for air and laughter. We were both soaked and completely covered in sand.

"Oh yeah," I challenged. "How?"

"You'll see," she said confidently.

"I can't wait to see you try."


	6. Caught in the Rain

**Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews! Please, please, please keep reviewing because I am totally addicted! I'm still tyring to figure out the reply to reviews thing so if I'm supposed to respond to your review and I don't than I'm sorry! By the way Adam is a boy and hasn't had surgery but I will tackle the whole swimming issue in a latter chapter. I hope you guys like it!**

**Clare's POV**

"I can't believe this! We don't have rain for weeks and then we come to the beach and it pours!" Ali whined. The five of us had decided to walk to the boardwalk for dinner but it started pouring the moment we got there. We were all huddle under the small overhang of a closed coffee shop. All the stores were closing and there was nowhere to get out of the rain.

"Adam, can you call your parents and ask them to pick us up?" I asked. Ali's whining was not going to help us.

"I would if I had my cell phone. I'm guessing none of you guys brought yours," he replied. All of us shook our heads. I looked up at the sky, but the rain showed no signs of letting up. Ali used this pathetic moment to move closer to Drew, who wrapped his arms around her. Adam made gagging noises.

"You're just jealous," Drew hissed. This shut Adam up. I shivered, feeling completely soaked, inside and out. Eli sighed, rolled his eyes and took off his leather jacket.

"Here," he said offering it to me. I took one look at the jacket and shook my head.

"No way," I said stubbornly. He looked down at the jacket and back at me. He was completely clueless.

"Why not? It's just a jacket," he said. He began to understand and that stupid smirk of his came back.

"Do I look like the silly little girls in movies?" I asked giving him the meanest glare I could muster. Granted, I wasn't very good at looking mean.

"Jesus, Clare, It's just a stupid jacket. You look like you're freezing," he said mockingly. I was cold, and it was tempting but I knew he was going to hold it against me for the rest of my life.

"Not happening," I said. I shivered again and Eli smirked yet again. I wanted nothing more than to wipe that arrogant, haughty, overconfident and completely heart-wrenching smirk off his face. Eli shrugged and started to put his jacket back on in slow motion.

"Your loss," she said. Screw it, I thought and grabbed the jacket from his hands and threw it over my shoulders. He smirked.

"You guys make me sick," Adam said in disgust. Ali gave me a strange look and Drew looked downright confused. Eli's smirk just grew bigger.

"Hey Clare," he whispered, mocking me further and moving his body even close to mine. I crossed my arms, but made no response. "You're wearing my jacket." I smacked his arm as hard as I could.

"Well unless you guys have any genius ideas, it looks like we're going to have to run back through the rain," I said. I don't think I could have lasted another second, crowed in the tight space. Everyone's faces dropped, especially Ali's.

"Why don't some of you go back and come back with a car for the rest of us?" Ali asked. No one even bothered to respond. Either we all went or we all stayed here, getting more impatient by the second.

"I say we all go," Adam said. We all nodded except for Ali, who just pouted. Drew noticed and was about to give in, when Adam grabbed his arm and Ali's and pulled them into the rain.

"It's so wet!" Ali screamed. Adam gestured at us to follow him and Eli and I cracked up. He took my hand in his and pulled me into the rain too. We all sprinted to the beach, screaming with laughter. No one could remember why we were doing this or why it was so funny, but it just was. Eli and I ran ahead from the rest and found a life guard chair that was still upright. We ducked underneath it hoping to catch our breathe for a moment. I hadn't realized how small the space under the chair was until I noticed how close my body was to Eli's.

I wanted to move away or run back into the rain but my feet were glued to ground. His eyes were locked on mine and it was if he was searching for something. I froze with panic when I realized his lips and mine were less than an inch apart. I wanted to close that gap so badly but I couldn't move. I opened my mouth to speak but for once I could find no words. His hand reached up to my face and I could hear my breath hitch. He gently pushed a strand of my wet hair out of my face. We heard Ali's shrieking coming closer and both of us fell out of the moment, crashing back into reality. I wasn't relieved, as I had hoped, but disappointed. His smirk came back and I felt myself melt. Then he grabbed me and pulled me into the rain and I was just as annoyed as I had been before.

Except now I was annoyed and confused.

**Holly J's POV**

"I'm completely soaked," Fiona moaned. We had been shopping on the boardwalk and got caught in the rain.

"I can relate," I snapped. I felt guilty immediately after I said it. She didn't deserve my bad attitude, but seeing Declan again brought back all these bad feelings. It also made me think about Sav who I had left behind at Degrassi. He was doing an internship at some engineering company over Spring Break. Why did boys always have to cause problems for me?

"Well, call first shower!" Fiona yelled, running towards the bathroom.

"No fair!" I called after her. There were other showers in the house but there was no way I was using Fiona's parent's bathroom, or even worse, Declan's. I walked into our bedroom and began to undress.

"Hey Fiona, can I borrow-" Declan walked into the room just as I was only in my soaking wet and completely see-through white tank top and my underwear. "Oh, shit, sorry." He said closing the door again. I threw on a t-shirt and shorts and fast as I could and yelled that he could come back in. Mentally, I wanted to shoot myself. Being in the same house as him for two weeks was not going to be easy.

"Sorry about that," I mumbled. I could feel my face growing red from embarrassment. Why did this have to happen to me?

"Um, yeah, I probably should have knocked," he said. I really wanted to crawl under a rock. Or hit myself on the head with one.

"Listen, I think-" We both said at the same time. I laughed nervously and gestured for him to go first.

"I was thinking, and I think that it's probably best if we try to be friends. You know, for Fiona's sake," he said, bending his head to the bathroom door. We could hear Fiona singing some Katy Perry song, way off key.

"I was thinking the same thing." I tried to smile but it came out like an awkward grin. He sighed with relief.

"Good," he said. "I just needed to borrow Fiona's phone charger." I pulled her charger out of the wall socket and handed it to him. When his hand accidently touched mine I swooned. He gave me a strange wave and left the room.

How was I ever going to be able to survive this?

**Ali's POV**

"What?" I screamed, practically at the top of my lungs. Clare shushed me and tried to get me to calm down. "Don't try to shush me Clare Edwards! And I will not calm down!" Clare rolled her eyes at my dramatics.

"Technically nothing happened!" Clare whisper-shouted. Yeah right, nothing happened! How could she not see how big of a deal this was!

"Yeah, but something almost happened! He obviously likes you," I said.

"Then why didn't he kiss me?" she asked biting her nails. It was an old nervous habit of hers.

"I don't know, because he's scared? No offense Clare but you're kind of hard to please sometimes," I said. She scoffed and threw a pillow at me.

"And I still have to figure out some sort of revenge for the ocean thing," she added. This girl was way over her head in Eli.

"Better think fast."


	7. Third Wheel

**Author's Note: Wow, it has been ages since I uploaded this! My life has been crazy with school and tennis and getting sick so please don't be mad! I know that this is really short but its more of a sneak peek than anything. Enjoy and please review if you guys still want more!**

**Adam's POV**

"Whose idea was this again?" I whispered into Clare's ear. The movie theater was dark but I could still see Ali and Drew sucking each other's faces off.

"Who do you think?" Clare replied looking in Ali's general direction. I could tell watching them skeeved her out. Hell, it skeeved me out too. I really didn't need or want to see my stepbrother sticking his tongue down someone's throat. The movie was some cheesy girl romance flick. Unfortunately we had left it up to Ali and Clare to buy the tickets which was probably a horrible idea in hindsight. It was only our second day at the beach and it was pouring. It seemed to be fitting with my luck lately.

I looked over to Clare and Eli and they seemed to be as miserable as me. On the screen some girl was trying desperately to seduce a guy and was wearing some pretty provocative clothes. Eli leaned over and whispered something into Clare's ear and she blushed and smacked his arm. I suppressed a laugh (they we're so ridiculously in love, and even worse at hiding it as the people on screen) but Clare noticed and smacked my arm too. Eli whispered in her ear again and the blush was a thousand times deeper than before. He laughed at her, whispered in her ear yet again, but this time she nodded.

"Want to leave?" Clare whispered into my ear. She looked over my shoulder to Ali and Drew and scowled. I nodded and the three of us sprinted out of the theater as fast as we could. When I looked back, Drew and Ali hadn't even noticed. When we got out into the lobby I noticed Eli had grabbed Clare's hand during our race out of the theater. Clare noticed too, blushed and pulled her hand out of his. Eli showed no reaction whatsoever, which was typical Eli behavior. I glanced back at the theater door and considered my options. Be a third wheel, or be a third wheel. Tough choice.

"So where should we go?" Clare asked.


	8. Friendly Competition

**Author's Note: Okay, so I don't like this chapter as much as I thought I would. But it will get better, I promise. Anyways, please, please, please review!**

**Adam's POV**

"I have an idea," I said, if only to distract myself from the lovey-dovey looks Clare was shooting Eli. "Up for some friendly competition?" Eli smirked and Clare glanced from me to Eli, then back to me.

"Like what?" Clare asked.

"You'll see," I replied as they followed me outside.

**Eli's POV**

"Mini-golf?" Clare said in a skeptical tone. Adam nodded.

"Isn't golf more of a guy's game?" I fake-whispered to Adam. Clare seemed offended. It was almost funny how easy it was to get her hot and bothered. Well, actually she didn't need my help in the hot department. Not that I would ever admit that aloud. She slapped my shoulder.

"Oh, it is _so_ on," She said pushing past me into the building. Adam shook his head chuckling, and followed her. When we got inside an employee handed us golf balls and putters and put out his hand for money. When Clare reached out her arm to give the guy money, I stopped her and paid for her.

"I can pay for myself, thank you," she scoffed, crossing her arms.

"I'm just trying to be nice." I did my best to seem fake-offended. "Consider it my apology for nearly drowning you yesterday."

"Drowning?" Adam asked worried. We made our way over to the first hole.

"No one _drowned_," Clare said. "Eli's being overdramatic. And I will get you back for that."

"Oh, I'm so scared," I said, practically dripping with sarcasm. Adam stepped between us.

"Guys, if you don't mind, I think we should start golfing now." I smirked, Clare glared at me and Adam took his first putt. As it turns out Adam is completely awful at golf, so the only real competition was between Clare and I. Surprisingly she wasn't half bad. By the time we got to the last hole we were tied, with Adam nearly 20 strokes higher than us.

"Golf isn't a real sport anyways," Adam mumbled as he took his last shot. Clare patted him on the back.

"You can't be good at everything, Adam," she said. Her effort at consoling him failed miserably and he grumpily waited for us to finish. I placed my golf ball and prepared to make my shot.

"You know, Clare, if I make this I win." She put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes.

"I'm well aware."

"I think we should make the stakes more interesting."

"What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know, like-"

"Really guys?" Adam interrupted. "Just get this over with." I shrugged at got ready to swing. Just as I was hitting the ball, Clare shrieked, scaring me and half the other people playing too. My ball went haywire as I looked up in surprise and concern, to find Clare in a serious giggling fit and Adam biting his lip to stop him from laughing. Eventually he gave up, and laughed along with Clare.

"What was _that_ about?" I asked, genuinely shocked. Adam managed to point to where my ball had hit someone on the back of the head. "Sorry!" I yelled. The person shook their head and walked off. By the time Adam and Clare stopped laughing we were halfway back to the movie theater to wait for Ali and Drew.

"C'mon guys, it wasn't that funny," I said sitting on a bench in the movie theater lobby. This set them into another round of giggles.

"Yes it was. I can't believe that worked!" Clare said.

"That's going to be a _huge_hit on YouTube," Adam said high-fiving Clare.

"You _recorded_ that?"

"Yup. Thank god for camera phones," Adam said waving his phone in my face. I sighed and rested my face in my hands.

"Once this gets put on the most watched list, I'll consider us even," Clare said, putting her hand on my shoulder. Her touch made me feel better but not enough to get rid of my embarrassment. Adam kept laughing.

"Yeah, maybe it'll even beat the video of you and Ali singing in the car," he added, not watching his words. I groaned and Clare froze next to me. She quickly took her hand off my shoulder and I could tell, without looking, that her face had gone pale.

"_What_?"

"Adam, you really need to shut your mouth sometimes," I moaned. This was not going to end well. Adam laughed nervously and tried to smile at Clare. When she gave him the evil eyes he looked down in shame.

"You guys are so dead it's not even funny."

**Fiona's POV**

"So what should we do today?" I said, plopping down on the couch between Declan and Holy J. While they were still immensely awkward together I could tell they were getting along for my sake. "Since it's raining I figured we could do something together."

"Movies are always good on a rainy day," Holly J offered. Declan shrugged.

"Okay then, what movie?"

"There's that new Hoffman movie out this week," Declan said, flipping through the New York times.

"But isn't that all in French?" Holly J asked. "I was thinking we could see the new Kendra Bullock movie."

"Really? Kendra Bullock? Fine, if all you want is a cheesy predictable plotline with a happy tearjerker ending," Declan said with more sarcasm then I've ever heard him with.

"Well Hoffman's movies are just a bunch of actors practically screaming 'look at me, I'm artistic and unique' while acting out unrealistic and overdramatic plotlines," Holly J replied, not even looking up from her Twizzle Teen magazine. So much for trying to be nice.

"And chick flicks are any less unrealistic?" Declan asked.

"How about we stay home and play a board game?" I asked.

"Fine, just anything but Monopoly," Holly J answered. Declan looked up in shock.

"Why not Monopoly? It's the only decent board game out there," Declan responded.

"You only like it because it's all about money and greed."

"Fine, then I don't want to play Scrabble," Declan responded. Holly J gasped, offended. They continued bickering, but at this point I gave up and focused on what was playing on TV, wondering what on earth had I done.

I had created a monster.

**Author's Note: So by the way, Hoffman is supposed to be some French indie movie director. And is you don't know who Kendra Bullock is supposed to be, then I think you need more help then I can give you. ****Also, please don't hate me because Holly J and Declan fight, I have a very interesting plot line for them, don't worry ;) And as for Adam/Fiona, I'm not really sure because I don't know if I like them as a couple or not yet. I mean they technically haven't even MET yet on the show. But I'll decide later. **

**I hope you liked it and please review :)**


	9. It's a Small World

**Author's Note: Hope you like it! Review, review, review :)**

**Clare's POV**

"You did WHAT?" Ali practically screamed. I crossed my arms with satisfaction. You could always count on Ali so a full-on diva freak-out. I was resolved to stand back and watch as this all played out.

"It's just a stupid video," Drew said, reaching his arm out to try to control her. She slapped his arm with one of the towels she was carrying. The sky had finally cleared and we were headed to the beach to enjoy what was left of the afternoon.

"Don't even think about touching me," she growled. "You SAW us and RECORDED us without even telling us, or asking for PERMISSION? How could you possibly think that that's okay?" The three boys looked down at their feet. Ali looked over her shoulder to me and we mentally high-fived each other. To tell the truth, neither of us were all that mad about the video. It _was_kind of funny, and was becoming a huge hit online. Besides, unless you knew us really well, you couldn't tell it was us in the video. But just because we weren't actually mad didn't mean we going to let the guys get off easy.

"We'll take down the video, whatever you want," Adam offered. I started to feel kind of bad. He did seem genuinely sorry.

"It's too late for that," Ali added. "You guys are going to _pay_." I nodded in agreement and Ali looped her arm in mine. Together we walked down the beach with as much seriousness as we could manage. When we were a good distance away we let ourselves laugh.

"Their faces were priceless," I laughed.

"Now they're going to be all worried about what we're going to do to them," Ali said between giggles. We were in the middle of our laughing fit when a little girl ran by kicking sand at us.

"Watch it, you little punk," Ali muttered under her breath, wiping the sand off her.

"Annie, get back here!" A blonde girl said, chasing the little girl. "I'm so sorry. She never watches where she's going."

"Jenna?" Ali squeaked. No way. This was not happening.

"Oh my god! Hey guys! How are you?" she asked engulfing Ali in a hug. "Small world, eh?"

"You can say that again." Ali elbowed me in the ribs.

"So what are you doing here?" Ali asked, trying to prevent an awkward moment. I looked back down the beach to where Eli and Adam were pathetically trying to put up an umbrella and clearly had no idea what they were doing. A gust of wind blew the umbrella out of their hands and knocked Adam down. I snorted which got me another elbowing form Ali. I so wished I could be over there with them.

"My aunt owns a beach house down here. That little girl is my cousin," Jenna said pointing to the toddler who was now playing in the sand. "Annie, come say hi." Annie stood up and walked over to Jenna, hiding behind her legs.

"Hi," she whispered, shyly. She hadn't seemed shy two minutes ago.

"I hear you guys won a radio contest," Jenna said. Ali and I nodded.

"Yeah we-"

"Jenna, I wanna go play with Casey," Annie rudely interrupted. It took me a moment to figure out who 'Casey' was.

"I told you, Annie, it's KC and he's up at the house and can't play right now." Ali quickly grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight, probably reminding me to breathe.

"KC is here too?" Jenna nodded, as Annie began pulling on her arm.

"I want to play!" she yelled, loud enough for the people around us to turn and stare. Jenna blushed.

"Well we better get going," Ali said pulling my arm. "We'll see you around." Jenna waved and mouthed 'bye' as Annie dragged her toward the mound of sand she had been building. "Are you okay?" Ali asked me.

"Actually I think I am. I'm just kind of surprised, you know?" Ali nodded and squeezed my hand again.

"So much for this vacation being about getting away from Degrassi," she sighed.

"I should have known." Ali gave me a quizzical look.  
"Known what?"

"That the drama will never end."

**Holly J's POV**

As I stepped out onto the porch, a sighed with relief. The entire morning was spent arguing with Declan, which was more tiresome than one might think. I wanted us to get along, really I did. But seeing him brought back so many memories and dreams and feelings that fighting seemed to be the only way to cover up the pain I was feeling. The worst part was that every argument we had made Fiona more and more frustrated. I could tell she was stuck in the middle and as much as I tried to keep her out of it, it was practically impossible.

I was trying to clear my head of all things Coyne when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I relaxed the moment I saw it was from Sav.

"Hey there, beautiful. How's the beach treating you?" The effect his voice had on me was amazing.

"It's been alright, I guess. It's been raining a lot. I wish you were here," I sighed. "How's the internship going?"

"It's been okay. My boss is sort of a jerk." All I could think of was some slutty receptionist waering short skirts and pumps getting to see him every morning. Ugh, life was so unfair. But on second thought, I was staying in the same house as my ex. Which was something he definitely didn't need to know. "Do you and Fiona have any big plans for tonight?"

"I don't think so. We'll probably just go down to the boardwalk, if it doesn't rain." I sighed again, hoping he could hear it and tell how much I missed him.

"Sorry Holly J, I got to run. The boss wants me to make a coffee run. Just don't have too much fun without me," he said rushed. He said a quick goodbye and I heard the click of him hanging up on me.

"Bye," I whispered and put my phone back in my pocket.

"Who was that?" I nearly jumped out of my skin, and put one hand on my heart to stop it from beating so hard.

"Declan, you shouldn't sneak up on people like that," I said, out of breath. He mumbled a sorry. "It was no one. Don't worry about." He looked doubtful but opened the deck door.

"Fiona said she wanted to ask you something." He held the door open for me, and I stepped inside.

I never thought I'd say this but I actually miss Degrassi.

**Clare's POV**

"So what ride are we going on first?" Adam asked. We were all piled into Adam's parent's minivan. Eli was driving, with Adam riding shotgun. I was in the middle, while Drew and Ali sat in the last row. Drew kept trying to kiss Ali but she kept turning him down, claiming it was part of his punishment for the video. The poor guy looked depressed.

"The bigger and scarier the better," Eli said. I rolled my eyes. Typical. "What about you, Clare? What kind of rides do you like?" He looked at me through the rearview mirror.

"I'm more of a Ferris Wheel kind of girl," I said.

"Figures." I kicked the back of his seat.

"What if I won you one of those giant stuffed animals? Then would you kiss me?" Drew asked Ali. It would have been funny if he wasn't so desperate.

"Maybe," Ali replied coldly. I could tell by the gleam in her eyes that a cheesy and oversized stuffed animal was exactly what she wanted. It took us a while to find a parking spot. When we all got out of the car Drew grabbed my arm, pulling me away from the rest of the group.

"Help a guy out?" He looked sincerely worried and in my head I heard 'Aw, he really cares.' How was it that Ali always got me into these situations?

"Win her one of those cheesy stuffed animals." He looked relieved yet skeptical. "Trust me." He nodded thanks, and ran to catch up to Ali. Adam and Eli went to go buy chili fries (Ali and I shared a look of disgust) and Drew dragged Ali to a ring toss game. I followed Ali and Drew, but left to go find a bathroom. I was halfway there when someone pulled on my arm.

"H-Hi, KC," I mumbled. I could tell I sounded like an idiot.

"Can we talk for a second?" he asked. I knew this was going to lead to something bad but all I could manage to do was nod. I followed him to the pier.

"Look, I know things between us have been weird," he said. I rolled my eyes. "Okay, you're right; that's a bit of an understatement. But I want to bury the hatchet."

"What hatchet?" I asked coldly. I know I was being cruel but cruelty seemed to be exactly what he deserved.

"Look, you never forgave me for what happened with Jenna, and I get that. But I think I need you to in order for us to move past this." Move past this? Who was he kidding? We were both doing fine ignoring each other's existence before, why did he want to change things?

"Maybe I never forgave you because you never even apologized. Not _really_ anyways." He looked surprised.

"I _am _sorry, Clare. I hurt you and I'm sorry for that." At first I felt nothing. But when I saw his face and how honest he seemed, something changed. No, I didn't still have feelings for him. He was right; forgiving him let me move on. I felt _free._

"I forgive you," I said hugging him. I couldn't believe this whole mess was finally over. Over KC's shoulder I spotted Adam and Eli moving through the crowd, to where Ali and Drew where. I realized why I wanted to move past things with KC. "I'm glad this is over KC, but there's somewhere I need to be right now."

As I walked away from KC I felt as light as air. For a second I actually felt like I could be floating. I kept my eyes locked on Eli, and things became so clear. I had feelings for Eli, real honest-to-God feelings. And something told me Eli liked me too. Nothing could stop me now.

Out of nowhere someone grabbed my arm and turned me around.

"Fitz?"

**Author's Note: Ooohhh, cliffhanger ;) If you want more let me know!**


	10. Ups and Downs

**Author's Note: Sorry about leaving it on such a dramatic note, but I loved everyone's reactions! As always enjoy and REVIEW! :)**

**Alli's POV**

I hugged the giant panda bear a little tighter. "Thank you," I whispered just loud enough for only him to hear. He wrapped one arm around me and pulled me closer to him.

"Clare better get back soon or I am seriously going to barf," Adam said looking at us disgusted. I stuck my tongue out at him and leaned closer to Drew. I was _not_ going to let Adam ruin this for me. Eli barely paid attention to what we were talking about and was nervously looking through the crowd.

"What are you doing?" Drew asked. Eli didn't hear him and Adam punched his arm to make him snap out of it.

"Ouch dude, what the hell was that for?" Eli didn't even turn to face Adam.

"You wouldn't happen to be looking for Clare, would you?" I asked. This got his attention.

"You guys aren't worried too?" Eli wasn't exactly an 'innocent' kind of guy, but at that moment he honestly looked like a scared little boy searching for his mommy.

"Sweetie, she's a big girl. She can take care of herself," I said patting his arm. He didn't seem to be fully listening. At that moment I spotted Clare pushing her way through the throngs of people to where we were standing. Eli saw her too and instantly melted into his usual smartass self. _Boys_.

"Sorry, I got kind of lost," she said in a super cheerful voice. A voice that I recognized immediately as the voice Clare uses when she's lying. Clare was many things, but a good liar she was not. No one else even noticed, and we made our way to the other end of the boardwalk where the rides were. I pulled Clare's arm so she and I could walk behind the rest of the group. She quickly pulled her arm away.

"Why does everyone keep doing that?" she snapped. The boys turned around in surprise. Clare _never_ snapped at anyone. Except for maybe Eli on occasion. "What are you guys looking at?" Drew, Adam and Eli both turned around quickly, not wanted to get involved.

"What has gotten in to you?" I hissed. I noticed her face looked even paler then normal and despite her fake cheerfulness and smile she seemed distraught.

"Nothing," she said in her worst liar voice yet. I shook my head and was about to lecture her when she pulled out her cell phone and started typing away furiously.

"Who could you possibly be texting right now?" I whisper-yelled. As I went to grab her phone away in frustration I heard my phone beep in my bag.

_I talked to KC._

"What?" I yelled. The boys looked over their shoulders but turned around again when they saw Clare glaring at me. After they looked away she put her finger to her mouth and pointed at the boys. Something happened that she did not want them to know about.

_Nothing happened! Actually we kind of cleared the air. Things are finally over with us._

I sighed with relief. "Why couldn't you just _say_ that?"

_B/c afterwards I talked to Fitz._

Before a word could come out of my lips Clare covered my mouth with her hand. Which was actually probably pretty smart considering I had a couple of very strong words to yell at her.

_AGAIN, nothing happened! We just talked._

"Then what's the big deal?" I asked. I know I'm known as the drama queen and really shouldn't be talking but it seemed like Clare was making a big deal out of nothing.

_He was NICE._

I was about to ask her why that was important when I walked into something, _hard._When Clare and I hadn't been paying attention the boys in front of us had abruptly stopped, to get on line for some random rollercoaster. I had bumped straight into Drew and Clare had practically collided with Eli. In her surprise Clare dropped her phone which was in her hand.

"You should really watch where you're going," Eli said with his classic smirk and Clare's fake smile came back.

"Whoops, my bad," she said. Eli looked at her confused, and bent down to pick up her phone for her. She lunged for it at the same time, and the two bumped heads, literally. Eli stood up holding her phone and rubbing his head. Clare stayed squatting on the ground rubbing her head in the same fashion. Eli took one look at Clare's phone and looked back at her in alarm. She struggled standing up and Eli grabbed her elbow to help but she yanked her arm away.

The five of us were standing in a strange silence of confusion when the guy in charge of the line yelled next. The five of us stepped forward almost in sync but the guy put his hand out. "Only three at a time," he said. Seizing my opportunity I grabbed Drew and Adam.

"C'mon guys, what are you waiting for?" I said in a mock-cheery voice that sounded eerily similar to Clare's. When I looked back Clare and Eli were still staring at each other in stunned silence. I hoped that by the time we got off the ride something would have changed. But who was I kidding? Knowing them they would stay that way forever. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

**Jenna's POV**

"I wanna play a game!" Annie screamed. The moment we got to the boardwalk Annie couldn't stop moving. The cotton candy KC bought her probably wasn't helping.

"Let's just wait for KC to get back," I said. Unfortunately Annie didn't understand the meaning of waiting. Just as I was about to go crazy from her bouncing and jumping KC made his way over to us.

"Sorry, the line was really long," he said, holding out bag of popcorn. My stomach grumbled (I hadn't eaten since lunch) and I reached out my arm to take a handful, but KC crouched down next to Annie and gave her the bag. "Here you go, Annie." Annie smiled sweetly at him and hugged him. _What a two-faced little brat,_ I thought to myself.

"Can we play a game now?" Annie asked innocently, pointing to a horse racing game. KC nodded and took her hand. I sighed, following behind. What a night this was turning out to be.

KC paid for all of us, so to hopefully bring his attention back to me I giggled and flirtatiously complimented him on bring back chivalry. He didn't seem to get it. The game started and I barely tried, not even really paying attention. Winning a dumb stuffed animal for myself wasn't important; getting one from _someone else _might be. KC won, as I had predicted. He took the giant horse from the guy working the game, and handed it to me. I smiled, proud to know he still really cared. KC smiled back and things felt right again.

"Horsey!" Annie screamed, as she pulled the horse out of my hands. I could feel my face and my heart drop. KC just smiled sadly and mouthed 'I'm sorry.' Annie reached up and grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the next game.

Why was this happening to me?

**Declan's POV**

After spending all day in the house arguing, Fiona decided to drag us out, for a change. She probably hoped that a different setting might stop the bickering but it only made things worse. We argued about what car to take, where to go, where to park, what to eat. The worst part about was we didn't even fight outright; instead, it was mostly snide comments or sarcastic remarks. I wasn't sure how long it would be until Fiona lost it and slapped one of us.

"I would ask if you guys wanted to go on a ride but that might just start World War III," Fiona snapped. It was harsh, but I couldn't blame her. Holly J and I glanced at each other, and shared of look.

"You're right Fiona, we have been acting a little ridiculous," Holly J said. I nodded in agreement.

"A little?" Fiona snorted. "Much more than a little."

"We'll try harder to get along," I added. Fiona sighed and shook her head.

"Whatever. I'm going to go get some coffee, and I'll be back in a sec." After she left Holly J turned to look at me.

"Whatever happened to being nice for Fiona's sake?" she asked.

"You make it seem like I'm the one that started this." She rolled her eyes.

"Look, I'm taking half the blame too. But we're going to have to work harder at this if we're going to survive the next week and a half."

"It's more than a week and a half," I said. She raised her arms in desperation. "Alright, fine. I get your point."

"Hey there, pretty lady," some random guy behind Holly J said. Holly J turned around in shock. The guy hugged her, lifting her off her feet, and she squealed in delight. Who was this guy?

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Just thought I'd surprise you with a visit," he said, cupping her head with his hands. He slowly leaned in to kiss her in what felt like slow motion. I coughed as loudly as I could and the two separated instantly.

"Declan, you remember Sav, right?" I reached out to shake his hand. He took it gladly and didn't seem a bit shaken to see me. Did he not remember _my_ relationship with Holly J?

"Anya's boyfriend right?" They both visibly cringed at the mention of her name. If they were going to kiss in front of me, I was going to have a little fun with them.

"Not anymore," he said pulling Holly J close to his side. She giggled and put her hand in his. When Fiona got back her jaw nearly dropped several feet at the sight of Sav.

"Hey Fiona," Sav greeted warmly. Fiona returned the greeting but not with his same enthusiasm. She looked at me for an explanation, but all I could manage was to shrug.

I had no idea what just happened.

**Eli's POV**

Clare and I stood there, too stunned to talk. Trying to think of what to say I looked down at her phone again. She reached out and grabbed it from me, still rubbing her head with her other hand.

"Is your head alright?" I asked. I fought the urge to put my hand on her head too.

"It'll be fine. You know it wouldn't hurt so much if you weren't such as hard head," she joked. She was smiling which help break the tension. All around us people were yelling and shoving and I suddenly had a strong desire to get out of there.

"I have an idea. C'mon," I said, grabbing Clare's hand and pulling her through the huge group of people. She squeaked in surprise as I pushed through a line of people waiting to get on line for the Ferris wheel, and was panting by the time we got on.

"So, you talked to Fitz?" I asked, not even giving her a second to catch her breath. I wanted to get this over with. "You really should stay away from that jerk."

"It's not like I _wanted_ to talk to him! He sort of pulled on my arm," she said. Her fingers traveled to the spot on her arm where he must have touched her.

"He _hurt_ you?" I swore to myself that if Clare had even the smallest bruise that I would beat him senseless.

"No!" she yelled, exasperated. "You saw the message! He was actually kind of nice to me."

"You should still stay away from him." She rolled her eyes at me.

"I _know_, Eli, I can take care of myself." Clare paused for a moment to look around at where we were. "What are we doing here?"

"We needed to talk, and it was too loud down there," I explained. "Besides you said this was your favorite ride." Noticing we had reached the peak height, I looked down at the beach and shuddered, looking away. Clare noticed and smirked. I was starting to rub off on her.

"Eli Goldsworthy, are you afraid of heights?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Dear god, I _was_ rubbing off on her.

"Absolutely not," I said. I wasn't _scared_ of heights but I didn't necessarily _like_ them. Why be floating in the air when you can have your feet firmly planted on the ground?

"Really? Because I think you are," she said. "Prove it. Look down." I shrugged and looked down.

"See, no big deal. And this is coming from the girl who's terrified of practically everything," I retorted. I couldn't help but notice that somehow we had ended up much closer together than before. The sides of our legs were touching and our faces were mere inches apart.

"I am not," she replied, her eyes gleaming. "Name one thing that I'm afraid of."

"You're not afraid of me?" I asked. She scoffed.

"Oh, please. You don't scare me. You may look all tough and scary but really you're just-" Out of nowhere I found my lips touching hers, just barely. Her lips felt soft like a whisper on mine, barely there. I wanted to kiss her more, harder, but I was terrified she might move away. So, like a coward I leaned back, away from her. When she finally opened her eyes again, she stared at me.

"What was that for?" she asked, breathless. She kept her big blue eyes locked on mine. Those eyes could have made me done anything.

"Mostly to shut you up." Wow, that sounded way more sarcastic then I meant it to be. Why was I screwing this up?

"So that meant . . . nothing?" She seemed angry and annoyed but her voice sounded hurt and confused. This was not turning out how I planned it.

"What meant nothing?" She cracked and looked outright upset now. She looked as if she was seconds away from tears. I didn't mean to hurt her; this wasn't what was supposed to happen. Suddenly the ride stopped and Clare bolted away as fast as she could. I ran after her, calling her name but I eventually lost her in the crowd. What had I done?

I knew the answer. I screwed up. Again.

**Author's Note: I know, I know, ANOTHER cliffhanger. But it's so much fun! For me, anyways. But if want to find out what happens . . . reveiw! :)**


	11. Claustrophobia

**Clare's POV**

"And now she is refusing to leave the house and she won't talk to me and she's seriously depressed and you're a total asshole who doesn't deserve her and-" I could hear Ali ramble from my spot on the deck. The thing I loved most about that deck was that I could see and hear everything that went on at the beach but they couldn't see me.

"Dude, _why_?" Adam asked in confusion.

"'Cause I'm an idiot, okay?" Drew and Adam looked at Eli in confusion and Ali looked like she was ready to throw some punches. I hoped Drew was prepared to hold her back. My mind fell back to last night. _Wow,_ what a night. First I talk to my ex and we finally get some closure. Then I realize I actually really like Eli. Then I talk to Fitz who was actually nice to me. And then Eli kisses me and pretends like nothing happened. My head was still reeling from all the drama. You can take the girl out of Degrassi but you can't get rid of all the freaking drama.

"What exactly happened?" Adam asked.

"I don't know. I don't fucking _know_," Eli mumbled, running his hands through his hair. Oh, please. He knew _exactly_ what had happened. And maybe what he did wasn't important. It was _why_ he did it that was what bothered me. He didn't like me. At least not in the way I liked him. And that _hurt. _"I'm going to go talk to her." He took a step towards the house but Ali put out her arm to stop him.

"No, you have to stay _away_ from her," she said. She turned to look for support from Adam or Drew but they seemed helpless. Part of me wanted to talk to Eli and fix this whole mess. Maybe to go back to being friends if that's what it would take. But the other part of me wanted to punch him just so he could be in pain too. I looked down at the bucket by my feet. Payback was a – well, a word that I'm not supposed to use.

"Ali, I at least have to _try_ to fix this," Eli pleaded. The inner romantic in Ali gave in and she stepped away letting him walk by. I watched as he walked away from the group to the bottom of the stairs that led up to near where I was on the porch. Ali, Adam and Drew walked farther down the beach and were now out of earshot. I knew I should go inside and ignore him, but I wanted payback. I felt grateful that he couldn't see me, and hoped he wouldn't try to come up.

"Clare, I can see you," he said. _Darn it. _Without looking I could tell that he was probably smirking. So much for being sneaky.

"I really don't want to talk to you right now," I said, bending down to the bucket.

"I know, and I completely understand. I was an idiot, okay. I screwed up and-" he stopped as a family walked by, all of them staring at him. I bit my lip to stop me from laughing. He did seem sort of desperate. "Can I come up? Please?"

"Anyway thing you have to say you can say from down there." I moved so I could get a better view of him.

"Look, I know I shouldn't have kissed you like that."

"Oh, so kissing me was a mistake?"

"No, that's not what I meant," he rushed to respond. A group of giggling girls walked by, pointing and laughing at him. "Can we please talk somewhere else?" I shook my head.

"No, because I have a perfect shot from here," I quipped.

"What do you mean per-" With near perfect timing I threw the water balloon that I had been clutching for a while, as hard as I could. Yes, it was completely immature and probably pretty stupid, but it felt _really_ good. The giant wet spot on his shirt and seeing him speechless (Eli was _never_ speechless) didn't hurt either. After a moment of shocked silence our walls came down and I bended over in a fit of laughter that made it hard to breathe, and his mouth broke into a devilish grin.

"Oh, it is _so_ on," he said, rushing up the stairs, taking two steps at a time.

"No," I screamed. "You can't come up here!" I threw another water balloon that narrowly missed his head. I threw another and this time I hit his leg. By now he was on the porch with me, and was trying to get around me to the bucket. I tried to scream no or stop, but I was still howling with laughter. When he got his hands on the bucket I ran to the other side of the porch, where I knew the hose was. Eli hit me on the back with another balloon, but I was able to get him completely soaked with the hose. Before I knew it he was running up to me, trying to grab the hose and turn it on me. We were both laughing too hard to consciously realize how close our bodies had gotten, and I had completely forgotten why I was supposed to be mad at him. When we finally called a truce and dropped the hose, we were both completely drenched, and the entire deck was almost flooded with water. We both fell to the floor, practically rolling with laughter.

"I have to admit, you have a good arm Clare," he sighed, shaking the water out of his hair. _Arm._ I was instantly reminded of the events of last night. KC pulling my arm. Then Fitz pulling my arm. Eli trying to grab my arm as I ran from the ferris wheel. Suddenly I missed being pelted by water balloons. I stopped laughing almost instantly and Eli caught on pretty quickly.

"So," I said, wringing out my t-shirt.

"So," he replied. I gave him a you're-going-to-have-to-do-better-than-that look, but he just looked back at me, with what can only be described as puppy dog eyes. I don't think I had ever seen him like that. "So, I'm an ass." I shook my head with disproval of his choice of words. "Sorry, I'm a donkey." I giggled before I could stop myself.

"I'm going to skip straight to the point. What happened last night?" He shrugged, and I got angry again. "Shrugging isn't going to do anything." He turned back to me again, with the same sad eyes. It was hard to believe that this was the same arrogant, egotistical guy that kissed me less than twenty-four hours ago.

"I'm sorry," was all he could manage to say. Instead of getting mad at him for not having a rational reason, I melted. This time I actually believed him.

"I know. But I don't think things can go back to the way they were." He looked at me confused.

"Why not?" I wasn't sure how to explain this to him so I decided to be as honest as I could.

"Because I have legitimate feelings for you. The kind of feelings that ruin friendships," when he didn't respond but continued to stare at me I began to ramble. "I think about you all the time, I keep making up ways in my head to bother you, I try to-" He cut me off. With a kiss. _Again. _I fought the strong urge to slap him, and pulled myself away as fast as humanly possible. Before I could yell at him, he pulled me in tighter and kissed me again. And I mean really _kissed_ me. Like butterflies-in-my-stomach, hands-around-his-neck, I-don't-want-to-ever –let-you-go, kind of kiss. He said all he needed to say without any words.

**Jenna's POV**

The past two days had been an entire disaster. Okay, maybe not a disaster, but it sucked. Well, at least for me. I had spent all day trying to either detach Annie from my legs or trying to pry KC out her tiny little clutches. Who knew a toddler could be such a boyfriend stealer?

But tonight was going to be different. Tonight, it was just me and KC. My aunt decided to take Annie to dinner alone, to help KC and I decompress. In reality all the moms in the area were dropping their kids off at a kid's play-place to go have dinner at a restaurant next door, but she purposely didn't tell us about that. I couldn't have cared less because KC and I arranged a perfect outdoor picnic on our porch, with a great view of the ocean.

"What are you thinking about?" KC asked, handing me water bottle.

"How _amazing_ this is," I sighed. I moved closer to him and he pulled me onto his lap. "I've missed this."

"Yeah, things have been kind of crazy lately. Annie's a . . ." He paused for a moment to think.

"A manipulative, scheming, controlling, brat who is completely obsessed with you?" I offered. He chuckled.

"I was going to say sweet, enthusiastic little girl, but your version works too."

"Oh please," I sneered. "She's completely in love with you! She has you wrapped around her tiny little finger."

"Well, not tonight," he whispered in my ear. I could feel all the bones in my body turn to jelly. Just as I was about to counter with a kiss, I heard the front door open and slam shut.

"Mom! I'm here! I know I'm a few days early but my plans got canceled," someone from inside yelled. I could feel my stomach drop. This house was getting way too crowded.

"Who is that?" KC whispered. I sighed, standing up to wipe off the crumbs that had gathered on my shirt. Instead of answering KC I yelled back.

"Lora, your mom's not here! I'm on the porch!" Lora proceeded to loudly march to the porch, dropping her bags as she went along.

"Jenny!" she screamed grabbing me in a tight squeeze. She was wearing her usual all black, and her make-up seemed even heavier than usual. When she pulled away, she eyed KC in surprise. "So this must be the 'most amazing boyfriend ever,'" she said. KC stood up to introduce himself.

"I'm KC," he said. He looked at Lora in a sort of strange way, like he didn't know what to make of her. I had expected that. But when that look changed to a grin, I got worried.

"So what's for dinner guys? I'm starved," Lora groaned, holding her stomach. She plopped down on the porch next to the spot where KC was sitting. KC followed her lead and sat back down. Suddenly I hated having so many relatives.

**Drew's POV**

"DUDE!" was about all Adam could say for about five minutes and he kept repeatedly high-fiving Eli. All I could think about was how big of a dork Adam was.

Eli told us the good news about Clare later in the afternoon. I didn't fully get what happened other than it involved water balloons and some serious kissing. Oh, and Eli couldn't stop smiling. Even when Adam went around the house screaming that he was totally in L-O-V-E love, he still had a weird goofy smile. I couldn't say I understood it, but I was happy for him. But all the talk about Clare made me miss Ali.

Ali spent the entire morning and afternoon freaking out about Eli and Clare. Every time I tried to talk about something else, it always came back to them. I had to stop her several times from going back to the house and spying on them. Adam being there didn't help much either. I tried texting Ali but she wasn't responding. I figured she was probably talking to Clare about the Eli debacle.

"Please, don't feel the need to tell me every detail about you two, because it still kind of weirds me out a little, but out of curiosity, are you guys, like, official now?" Adam asked with his mouth half-full of bread. We were trying to eat dinner but Eli and Adam were too crazed to sit still and eat normally. I watched as Eli's smile faded. I knew that look.

"You guys didn't talk too much, did you?" I joked. It didn't seem to make him feel any better.

"We never clearly stated the details of our relationship," he said, slowly and cautiously. Adam groaned and shook his head in his hands. "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that you could be nothing more than a casual fling. Or friends with benefits," I explained.

"No, it's not either of those," he said confidently. I wasn't convinced.

"Well, are you guys exclusive? Because I hear her ex, KC, is in town," Adam said, inching away from Eli. I had a feeling Adam was scared that Eli would blow up.

"Dude, don't worry about KC. He was on the football team with me," I said. From the look he gave me, this didn't make him feel any better. "He's dating a cheerleader." Eli started breathing again.

"I can't believe she has an _ex_."

"What did you think? That she's never had a boyfriend? I mean you had-" Eli glared at Adam with such intensity, I'm pretty sure the temperature in the room dropped several degrees. Surprisingly, Adam didn't wither. "Does she know?"

"Yeah, she knows." I was quickly losing interest in this conversation, since I didn't even know what they were talking about any more. And I was pissed that Ali wouldn't answer her damn _phone._

"Well if you're so worried, just go across the street and ask her," I mumbled angrily. I slammed my phone against the table. Ali got made every time I didn't respond to her texts, but it was fine for her to ignore me.  
"I could say the same to you," Eli snapped, knowing whatever problem I was having was with Ali. I groaned.

"I would but she-" Before I could finish that embarrassingly pathetic sentence my phone beeped.

_Can't talk now. Dealing w/ Clare. Meet at the beach at 9?_

"Never mind," I said instead, walking away grinning. They could deal with their problems on their own.

**Ali's POV**

It had started off as a horrible day. I had spent all of last night comforting Clare, trying to help her understand the horrible mixed-up brains of guys. When I woke up I was still completely exhausted, and found Clare hiding out on the porch, watching Eli and the rest of the guys on the beach. She said she needed to spend the day alone to clear her head, but I knew she just felt like crying all day. So I went from tired and sad, to increasingly more and more pissed off. Eli was a complete asshole.

So I gently persuaded Clare that what she needed was revenge. After all, he had hurt her, and didn't he deserve to hurt too? That's when Darcy came back from the supermarket (God knows why she was there so early in the morning) with a giant bag of water balloons.

But it turned out that Eli was actually super amazing. My plan of revenge had successfully become a make-up (or make-out, depending on how you looked at it) plan. For the rest of the afternoon Clare couldn't stop smiling, and I couldn't have been happier for her.

Things only got better when I checked my phone later and found a bunch of texts from Drew, complaining about not seeing me all day. Knowing that he wanted _me_ and wasn't chasing after someone else, felt incredibly satisfying. As I was responding, the house phone rang and that's when everything went completely downhill.

Darcy took the phone call out on the porch so Clare and I barely noticed and plopped down in front of the TV to etch Project Runway (my choice, not hers). But when she came back in near tears and asked to speak to Clare alone I knew something was wrong.

I tried to listen to their conversation from the staircase, but I couldn't quite make it out. But I could tell it had something to do with Clare and Darcy's parents. I knew they had been fighting, but I hadn't known how bad it had truly gotten. I was too consumed by my Drew bubble to notice very much about what was going on with Clare. Now I felt just plain awful.

I was trying to discreetly sneak down the stairs when I heard a noise that sounded like something hitting the window in Clare's and my bedroom. I opened the window to get pelted in the face with a small pebble.

"Watch it!" I yelled down, only to realize it was Eli.

"Sorry! Is Clare around? I kind of wanted to ask her about something," he whisper-yelled up. I looked over my shoulder, toward where I had been spying. I could hear the faints sounds of Clare's muffled crying.

"Now's not the best time. She's kind of . . . um, busy. Cant it wait til tomorrow?" There was no way I was going to interrupt Clare and Darcy's emotional conversation so Eli could ask Clare on an official date. I mean they had waited so long already, couldn't it wait one more day?

"It's kind of important." I wanted to help, but there was no way Clare was going to be able to talk to him. Besides, I was paranoid about Darcy or Clare hearing Eli yelling to me.

"I'll be down in a minute. Don't move!" I slipped down the stairs, and went through the front door so I wouldn't be seen. Eli was exactly where I left him, looking rejected and confused.

"Why can't Clare talk to me?" he asked.

"She's kind of having-"

"Finally!" Someone behind me exclaimed, grabbing me into a tight embrace. "I've been waiting all day to see you."

"_Not now,_ Drew," I said pushing him away. All day I had been waiting for him to say that, but his timing couldn't have been worse.

"What's going on?" he asked suspiciously, eying Eli. Eli crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah right," Eli mumbled. Drew got angry, and tried to step around me, probably to try to intimidate Eli.

"Guys, _stop_!" That's when we heard it. Faint sniffles came from the open window above us, the one I had stupidly forgot to close.

"Is that . . ." Eli started. I nodded and none of us knew quite what to do. I wanted to go be with Clare, but I wasn't sure how to make Drew or Eli leave. That's when Drew's ringtone blared, loud enough for the entire block to hear. And sure enough, Clare's sniffling stopped and she came to the window. And of course she saw all of us, frozen like idiots.

"Um, hi guys," she said, unsure of herself. My hopes of ending the day on a high note got completely flushed down the toilet.


	12. People Watching

**A/N: **Okay, so I know I haven't written in a really long time, and I'm super-duper sorry! And I'm still kind of iffy on this chapter, and I can't tell if it's good or not. I really struggled with Adam's point of view. But, as always, I really hope you like it, and even if you absolutely hated it, please review!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Degrassi or Project Runway **

**Adam's POV **

What was the point of coming to the beach with your step-brother and best friend? I had _thought_ the point was that we could hand out together, crack some stupid jokes and yes, the word only parents use, 'bond.' However, add two girls to the mix and all you get is drama, drama and me sitting completely alone on a bench at the boardwalk. Fun times.

I guess I shouldn't have been so mopey. I was happy for them after all, wasn't I? Besides, it gave me a chance to be alone for a while and do one of my favorite pastimes; people-watch. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not some kind of stalker. I don't follow people around, figure out where people live or ask them into my van (which I don't even _have_). I just sit back and kind of watch. Usually I'll make up stories to go along with the people I see, make up life-stories, deep secrets and stuff like that. Nothing too dark or anything.

You could probably say it comes through some physiological trauma of mine, or through my own secret. In fact, making up other people's secrets definitely got my mind off of my own. But through whatever reason, there I was, alone on the boardwalk.

A relatively large man, with an even larger bald spot walked out of one of the many candy shops, holding a relatively small bag. _Probably bought chocolate covered strawberries for his wife, who's threatening to divorce him if his hair doesn't grow back._ Fun right? Ok, so I wasn't at the top of game that night. In all honesty I was still thinking about Eli and Clare, making out on her deck and how the whole thing sort of freaked me out. I shuddered just at the thought of it.

Just as my thoughts began to wonder away from the game, a tall brunette girl walked out of one of the boutiques across the boardwalk from where I was. She was carrying more shopping bags than I had probably seen in my life, and they probably weighed more than she did. With a sad sigh, she dropped her bags on a bench not too far from mine and sat down. On the surface she was all stereotypical, rich daddy's girl, who got invited to all the cool parties, and who probably used like for every other word. I was contented to think that maybe that really was everything there was to her, but then she began to look around.

Her eyes followed a young preteen boy on a skateboard, who rolled past both of us. His eyes flitted back and forth, searching the shop windows for someone. He seemed to find who he was looking for, and quickly looked away. However, in his distraction he didn't see a misplaced rock in his path, and fell abruptly off his skateboard. As he was righting himself a group of giggling girls about his age walked past, and all but one of them pointed and laughed. The sole girl not laughing looked apologetic and reached out a hand to help him up. Instead, he stood up on his own, pulled one of her pigtails, and yelled a nasty remark as he sprinted away. _World's biggest crush anyone?_ I bit my tongue to stop myself from laughing.

Then, out of nowhere, I heard the lightest of giggles. It was faint, but it sounded girlish, and made me think of the sound bubbles make when they pop. I looked to find the brunette girl from before, laughing at the same thing as me. She was people-watching too. And as her eyes met mine I knew she had a secret just as dark as mine.

**Eli's POV**

Three hours. That's how long it had taken for everything to go from cloud nine, to the lowest pit on Earth. I shook my head, as I rounded the corner of the deck, to the part facing the ocean. Clare had beaten me there and was sitting on the top step, her face hidden by her hands and her hair. If she hadn't been shaking so violently, I wouldn't have known she was crying at all.

I knew she heard me coming, but she didn't turn towards me, or move her hands away from her face. I sat down next to her and did the only thing I could; I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her closer so she could cry into my shoulder. Slowly she put her arms around my neck, and we stayed that way for quite a while. When her quiet sobs turned to sniffles I gathered the courage to ask what was going on.

"Parents . . . divorce," was all she could choke out. I sighed with understanding, pulling her in tighter. She had told me a couple weeks back about her parents, who were constantly fighting. It was the first time I had realized Miss-perfect-Clare wasn't too perfect after all. Of course she tried to push aside her feelings about them fighting, but I had seen right through her, just as always.

"I'm sorry, but . . . can I talk to Clare alone for a minute?" I turned my head to see Clare's sister behind us. Her voice has shaky, and her eyes looked watery. "It's just . . . it's kind of a family thing. And we have a lot to talk about."

I nodded, and gently pulled Clara's arms off of my neck. The girl really had some grip. Darcy quickly filled my spot, and wiped Clare's tears away with her sleeve. I sent one last sorrowful look to Clare, and turned to leave.

"T-thank, y-you," I heard her mumble, as I climbed down the steps. I looked back, but kept walking. Her face was already buried in her sister's hair.

I walked and walked, until that dumb deck, where everything seemed to happen, was out of sight. I promptly collapsed on the sand, not having anywhere else to go. Drew was undoubtedly with Ali, and Adam and ditched us to go to the boardwalk all on his lonesome. I groaned in annoyance; at them, at Clare's parents, at everyone. I leaned back, watching the stars (which pissed me off _more_, 'cause I'm not exactly the star-gazer type) and I let my mind wander off a bit. It really did seem like someone up there had it out for us.

"Julia, you always did have a weird sense of humor."

**Holly J's POV**

"So, you and Sav, huh?" Declan asked, sitting down next to me on the couch. It was getting pretty late, but I had decided to stay up until Fiona got home. Of course, she just left out of nowhere, claiming to have things to do, but I knew better. She was most likely burning a hole in her credit card with some seriously pricy retail therapy.

"If you're going to sit there and make judgments on things you know _nothing_ about, I'll go wait for Fiona downstairs," I huffed, sliding down the coach, away from him. It was just like him to be so darn _condescending_ even when he had barely spoken. My good mood from seeing Sav had quickly worn off after last night, when Declan continued to look at me with a confused yet bemused look on his face. If it hadn't been for the recent peace treaty, I would have slapped it off. But it was Fiona, not us, that would have to deal with the consequences of that.

"I didn't mean to be judgmental. It was just a surprise, that's all." I had to give him that. The idea of Sav and I came out of left field, even for me. "You used to make fun of his relationship with Anya all the time."

"He's grown up a lot since then. And I'm not Anya."

"Well that's for sure," he said, chuckling. He held out his bag of pretzels for me to take a couple. "Last time I checked, you didn't have a sticker collection." I laughed so hard I almost choked on the pretzels he had given me. Fiona, with her usual knack for timing, walked in carrying what looked like hundreds of shopping bags.

"Who's dead? I thought I heard laughing which must mean one of you killed the other," she said, straining to place off of the bags right side up on the living room floor. When we both continued laughing, instead of responding, she turned to us, with shock all over her face. "Wait, does this mean the two of you are actually getting _along_?" We shared a look and just shrugged.

Still gaping in shock she plopped down on the couch directly between us. I stopped myself from wondering why my stomach dropped when my knee was no longer touching Declan's. "Do you know what this means?" Fiona asked, wrapping her arms around our necks and pulling us closer.

"What?" we asked in unison.

"Project Runway Marathon!" Declan and I groaned, but easily fell into submission. Neither of us was ready or willing to start another fight.

"Don't think this means you get out of telling me why you're so late," I said wagging my finger in her face. Her blush deepened a tint, barely noticeable, but I saw it anyways.

"Who cares about _my _shopping? I want to see what Heidi is wearing!" Declan and I shared another look over her shoulder, and started laughing. Maybe submission wasn't so bad after all.

**Ali's POV**

"What the hell were you thinking? Me and Eli? Seriously?" she yelled, as she stormed down the beach, several feet in front of me.

"I'm _sorry_, baby I just-"

"No! No more excuses! That was rude, and unnecessary, and now I'm here instead of being with my best friend who just found out her parents are getting divorced! Are you happy now?" She was ranting, and I knew how she was when she got going. There was no stopping her now.

"I know that you want to spend time with me and I get that! But I'm here with my best friend too!" I sighed with relief, notcing that she was winding down. She kind of scared the shit out of me when she was pissed like that.

"I'm sorry, Ali. I was wrong, and you should go be with Clare." She scoffed.

"A little late! Now she's being comforted by Eli!" She said, massaging her temples. She always did that when she got stressed. I tried pulling her in for a hug, put she pushed me away. "I'm sorry Drew, I just can't do this right now. I have to go get some sleep, and I'll talk to you in the morning." She leaned up and kissed me on the cheek before turning away. With annoyance and desperation, I watched her walk down the beach.

**KC's POV**

So this vacation was slowly getting better. Yes, now that Lora was here, Jenna and I would probably have even less time to spend alone, but Lora was really nice. She had a sense of humor, she liked some of the same books, and even played sports. I will admit her appearance was a little scary. She wore all black, all the time, and always wore a thick layer of makeup, but she wasn't intimidating at all, once you got to know her. We were getting along great, and I thought that this would make Jenna happy. She wasn't as enthusiastic about our friendship as I had hoped.

"Seriously? I thought you guys would be done by now," Jenna moaned from her seat on the porch. Lora and I were playing basketball and it was tied 20-20. She threw the magazine she had been reading aside.

"What kind of cheerleader are you?" Lora asked, taking a shot and missing. "I thought you would be cheering on your boyfriend." I took advantage of her distraction and stole the ball.

"A hot and tired one, who wants to go to the _beach_," she whined. I couldn't blame her, the game was going on for a while. But there was no way I was leaving in the middle of such an intense game.

"Why don't you go up ahead? We'll be done soon anyways," I said, dunking the ball. Lora mumbled something about a height advantage under her breathe. When I turned to see Jenna's reaction she was shocked.

"You want me to go to the beach without you? So you can stay here and play _basketball_ with my _cousin_?" I shrugged. What was the big deal? She was only going to get crankier if she stayed here.

"Don't worry, Jenny," Jenna cringed at the nickname, "we'll come up as soon as I kick his butt. Which won't take long, I promise." She winked at me and took another shot. The wink had me flabbergasted but I smiled, giving her this shot. It wasn't as much fun if we weren't tied.

I tuned to take the ball back from Lora, when Jenna stormed past me, purposefully hitting me with her shoulder. As she walked down the street to the beach she turned and gave me the angriest glare I had ever seen. I might have chased after her, but Lora hit me on the head with the basketball.

"Ready to give up?" Jenna was just going to have to wait. Besides, she wouldn't be too happy if her boyfriend lost to a girl, right?

**A/N:** Remember to review! The more reviews I get the sooner the next chapter will be up ;)


	13. Over Thinking

**Fiona's POV**

When I woke up, I found myself casually strewn across the couch in the living room. My body was stiff, and it took me several minutes to stretch my legs out. Rubbing my eyes I noticed Holly J and Declan were lying in a heap on the other end of the couch, Holly J's head was resting gently on Declan's chest. It would have been cute if it hadn't made me nauseous and if they weren't both covered in stray popcorn and jellybeans. But it was nice to see them being gross _together_ at least. Instead of waking the sleeping duo, I made my way to the kitchen to start brewing some coffee. The smell would eventually wake the two caffeine addicts.

Sitting on the porch facing the beach, I wondered why I wasn't ecstatic to have Declan and Holly J getting along. After all, my main purpose in planning this trip was to get the two of them back together. Dealing with the two of them after the break-up had been torture. Yet, the two of them laughing, touching, flirting in normal happy people ways just tightened the growing knot in my stomach. Some far, buried portion of my brain muttered _jealousy, jealousy_, over and over again. I wanted to believe that it wasn't possible, that I could never be jealous of their sick on-again off-again relationship, but since being with Bobby I had lost faith in all romantic ideals. Romantic movies made me want to pull my hair out, reading Romeo and Juliet in class was enough to make me feel sick, and don't even get me started on PDA. But then, there was last night.

I had been doing some serious shopping, when I noticed an extremely cute boy watching me. Not 'checking me out,' but taking a general interest in me. Instead of revolting, I found it flattering. It took the poor guy close to ten minutes to pluck up the courage to talk to me, and when he did I found him almost unbelievable. He was genuinely sweet, but didn't over flatter me. He was honest to a fault, but was never too quick to speak. And best of all he didn't judge me, and didn't make any strong advances. What were the chances that I, Fiona Coyne, had actually met a decent guy? We had only talked for a little while, before he got a call from a friend and had to leave. We didn't exchange names or phone numbers, which was totally fine with me. If we never saw each other again, no loss no foul. If we did meet by certain happenstance, or if he was able to find me, then maybe it was meant to be. But there was no way that I was going to fool around with fate. And I knew nothing about this guy, anyways.

"Wow, what are you thinking about?" Holly J asked, walking out onto the deck. She already had a mug of coffee in her hand but she looked barely awake. "I haven't seen you look so concentrated on something since our little 'war.' It wouldn't have anything to do with why you were out so late last night, would it?" I cursed my friend's x-ray vision and my own transparency.

"If you must know, I met a very nice guy last night." Holly J's eyebrows shot up immediately. She was even less willing to forget about Bobby than I was. "Nothing happened, we just talked. I didn't even get his name." Holly J blew out a sigh of relief.

"I'm guessing you've concocted some crazy plan to find him, right?" My insides churned at the thought of seeing him again.

"No, not at all. If I'm meant to see him again, fate will let it happen." Holly J looked even more dubious than before.

"Fiona Coyne, trusting fate? This guy must not have made too great of an impression, then." Holly J's words confused me and fogged what had once been my clear opinion of what I thought about the mystery guy. Maybe nothing had really changed? I scrunched up my nose in confusion and distaste.

"I don't really know. But he gave me the chance to try again. Isn't that enough?" Holly J made no response, and quietly sipped her coffee.

**Clare's POV**

Divorce. It was a simple word, with a clear and definite meaning. It had different connotations to different people of course, but to me it sounded harsh and permanent. There was no going back from this. To me, the word sounded like the tearing of my family, my life, even my own heart, into tiny little shreds.

_No one should have to feel this way. Not even Jenna_, I thought to myself. I couldn't imagine how other people did this. How they could survive this. I had known it was coming, like it was a speck on the horizon slowly getting bigger and bigger as it came closer to me. But all I had to do was close my eyes and it wasn't there anymore. It couldn't hurt me.

"So I'm thinking that maybe we should cut this vacation short. You know, go home a couple days early," Darcy said from across the table. It was only the two of us for breakfast, since Ali hated getting up before eleven during vacation. Darcy's words stung me, like a slap across the face. Why was Darcy letting our parents control them like this? Darcy should be stronger, should be fighting them on this.

"No! I'm not going to let them ruin my vacation! Besides it's not fair to Ali. She won this vacation too, you know." I had to fight to keep from slamming my tight fists on the table. Darcy's pensive look irritated me beyond words and to me, words were everything.

"Prolonging this situation isn't going to make it go away. You're going to have to face it eventually," was her plain response. Instead of worried or angry or any of the five million emotions racing through me Darcy seemed tired and bored of the conversation.

"Darcy, I only get another week to spend with you before you go back to Africa! I want to spend it here, having fun, not dealing with Mom and Dad's problems!" This time I did slam her fists on the table, which made Darcy's glass of orange juice wobble. Darcy reached out a relaxed hand to catch her glass.

"That's another matter we have to discuss. I don't know if I'm going-"

"Don't say it! Do not say you aren't going back to Africa, or I may never forgive you! How can you let Mom and Dad's stupid decisions mess up your future?" I stood up, practically shaking with nerves. Our parents couldn't do this to us, to Darcy. For the past couple days Darcy could barely stop herself from telling me all about how amazing Africa was, and how she felt empowered by being able to help others. Our parents could screw up my life in any way they wanted, but they were **not** going to take Africa away from Darcy.

Just as I was going to begin to truly yell, Ali came down the stairs, looking as sleepy and bed-headed as ever. Something inside me softened, seeing my friend looking so ridiculous. At least I had one stable person to hang on to.

"Is everything okay?" Ali asked, reaching toward the open box of Life cereal sitting on the counter.

"Everything's fine. I'm going to go to the supermarket to get a few things for dinner tonight, and I might stop by a friend's house. Do either of you want to come?" Ali gave me a sidelong glance, and quietly shook her head. Darcy didn't even bother to see my reaction, and jumped up to grab her keys. "I'll see you guys later then."

"What were you two arguing about?" I melted into softness, and let my friend hug me as I teetered on the edge of tears. The breaking of my parent's relationship was breaking my relationship with my sister. When she was done hugging me, she asked another question I didn't really want to think about. "So how did things go with Eli last night?" She didn't accept my groan as an answer.

"I cried. He hugged me. Darcy practically kicked him out. I didn't even get to talk to him."

"Yikes." Her response was not the one I was looking for. She took Darcy's place at the table, and pushed the orange juice toward me. She had always been more of a coffee person, and the little things that didn't change were beginning to mean more and more to me.

"Do you think he'll be mad at me?" Ali almost spit out her drink.

"God, Clare, of course not! He understands that you've got a lot going on right now! And if he doesn't than he's already starting off as a pretty cruddy boyfriend."

"I wonder what he wanted to talk about. We hadn't planned on meeting last night." Ali twirled her spoon in her soggy cereal.

"I hope it wasn't anything like what Drew wanted last night," she muttered under her breath. I could tell she immediately wished she hadn't said it, and was probably hoping I didn't hear her.

"What was going on with Drew?" Ali avoided eye contact, which was never a good thing.

"Oh, I don't want to bother you with-"

"Nonsense. Spill. Now." At the very least, this would probably get my mind off, well, you know.

"I don't know, he came over last night and I'm pretty sure all he wanted was some action. I felt like a booty call or something. And he was being totally unreasonable." As much as Ali would have hated me for saying it, I wasn't surprised at all. Before Ali, Drew had gotten around and his reputation was starting to grow. And I mean, come on, their relationship had started with a hook-up. Wasn't that a clue that this was going to happen eventually? Besides, he's a jock, and what can you expect from _them?_ _Oh wait_, I thought, _I've forgiven KC_.

"Well, what are you going to do about it?" She looked distressed.

"What _can_ I do about it? I don't want us to break up, and what good is talking going to do? He's a hormonal teenage boy."

"You are not going to just give in, are you?" I know Ali was slightly boy-crazy, and her experiences with Johnny proved that. But I was not going to let her fall down this hole again.

"No," she sighed. "I learned my lesson the first time, mother. I'll just try talking to him." Her tone suggested that the matter was still unresolved. I couldn't bring myself to care more about it, because most of my focus was on the ripping noise my heart was making.

**Jenna's POV**

I had thought I had known what jealousy was. But as this trip went on I began to see that I really had no idea. Seeing KC with Annie, then Lora, then _both of them_, was not only making the big green monster come out, but making me into one. I had never been too much of a clingy or needy girlfriend before, but this situation was bringing out the worst in me. And by worst, I mean the very worst.

"Jenna why don't you come play with us?" Annie asked. She was building a sandcastle with KC and Lora a couple of feet away from where I was. They had been working on that thing for almost an hour and it still just looked like a giant mound of sand.

"Annie, don't bother her. You know Jenna doesn't like to get all sandy," Lora said, as if I wasn't right there. I don't like to get sandy? I had spent the last couple of days getting sandy with Annie, all by myself, since KC didn't want to deal. But now that Lora was there, he was _just fine_ with playing.

"Actually, Lora, Jenna's been playing in the sand with Annie for the past couple of days," KC said, looking towards me. I absolutely beamed at him. I suddenly remembered why I loved him, and how great of a boyfriend he was. He stuck up for me!

"Well, it's a good thing I'm here now. Now Jenna doesn't have to do anything she doesn't like." Lora didn't even bother looking up from the sand she was molding. Why was she being this way? We were family, for crying out loud, and we had always gotten along. When we were little I had looked up to her as if she was a goddess. Now she was just being a boyfriend hogging bitch.

As she spoke the words, she scooped up the sand by her feet with her shovel and casually flipped the shovel in my direction. Before I could even comprehend the action, I was covered head to toe in sand, and it was all over my face. "Oops, sorry," was the only response I received, as if it was an accident that could just be assumed as forgiven. It would have been, if I hadn't been in the exact opposite direction from the sand castle. I stood up, shaking with rage to wipe the sand off of me.

"Lora! That was totally on purpose!" The edges of Lora's mouth turned up the slightest bit, and I could see that she was hiding a satisfied smirk. _Bitch, bitch, bitch._

"Why on Earth would I throw sand at you on purpose?" KC looked at my in concern. Not concern about what had just happened or why, but in concern for my mental sanity.

"Fine, do whatever the hell you want, I'm going back to the house," I said storming away, kicking up sand for dramatic emphasis. Unfortunately, my aim wasn't as good as Lora's and I ended up kicking sand into Annie's face who preceded to cry. I didn't bother to turn back to see the scene behind me, but I only made it to the boardwalk before KC stopped me.

"What is wrong with you today? You've been snapping at everyone!" I ripped my shoulder from his grasp, stumbling backwards.

"If you don't know, then I really don't want to talk to you right now. Go back and play with your little family!" With tear-blurred vision I turned on my heels, praying that he might actually chase after me.

"Family? What are you talk about?" He called after me. _Please chase after me, please care enough to follow me, please don't let me be alone right now,_ I thought as I walked down the sidewalk. But it didn't matter because when I reached the house, there was no one behind me.

**Adam's POV**

It was the epitome of beach weather. A warm, hot sun beat down but it wasn't humid enough that you couldn't breathe. Not a cloud in the sky, but there was a gentle ocean breeze. And the waves were gentle enough not to scare anyone away but not too calm to be boring. Yet here I was, lying on a towel, wearing way too many layers wishing to be anywhere but here.

"You're going to pay for that Ali!" Clare shouted from the water. She kicked her foot to create a splash of water aimed at Ali's face. When Adam, Eli and Drew had met them at the beach, they had both been superficially cheerful. Drew and Eli were either too pig-headed to notice, or smart enough to pretend not to. Whichever one, it hadn't taken long for Drew and Eli to pull (or in Eli's case, drag) their respective girlfriends into the water. A full-on splash contest had resulted, and I was growing bored of watching their antics. I lied down as to have my face towards the fun, hoping that at least the body parts I was okay with revealing would tan. It had only been a couple minutes before someone's shadow blocked my sun.

"Hey, what gives?" When my eyes re-adjusted, I could see Clare's figure hovering over me. She was shivering from the water, but she still looked sufficiently happy. That is, until she noticed my icy mood.

"Why don't you come in the water with us?" I gave her a look to say well-that-should-be-obvious. "We all know about your – um, 'situation.' You know we don't care." I rested my head back against the towel. Of course _they_ didn't care. But what about everyone else on the beach. And what about "her."

My mind flashed back to the night before, to the strange meeting of that girl. It had been fleeting, but those couple of minutes had really been something else. She was sweet and unassuming, and so trusting that it was difficult not to find her intoxicating. But what would _she _think if she saw me go swimming. If she noticed that my wet clothes hugged onto certain areas that they shouldn't. In other words, her reaction probably wouldn't be a good one if she knew that I had the body of a girl.

"Clare, I understand, but it's just more comfortable for me here. Besides I've never been a very good swimmer." Clare shot me look of doubt. "Just ask Drew." She threw her hands up in exasperation, and ran off to join the others. Eli was waiting for her with a child's bucket he had filled with salt water.

When she was gone, my body relaxed into its previous position. To myself I wondered if I was ever going to be able to be that ok with myself to be able to go swimming like them. And I couldn't stop the thought that maybe it would come at a pretty steep cost.

A/N: Sorry for taking so long! This chapter was especially difficult to write. As always feedback/reviews are very much appreciated! Also, if you wouldn't mind, could you tell me which point of view you like best? Thanks! :)


	14. Making It Right

**A/N: **Okay, I know it's been _forever_ since I updated this, but I've had a lot going on in my life. I could make a whole list of excuses, but I'm not going to bother. But I'm really sorry and I hope you guys still like it!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Degrassi.

**Clare's POV**

I knew they were trying to help. Darcy and Ali just wanted the best for me. But they just couldn't leave me _alone_. All day they had tried to make me happy. By the end of breakfast I had had enough, and just went along with it. I pretended to be happy, and they seemed to believe it. So had the boys, or so I had thought, until right before lunch time Eli pulled me aside and asked me if I was okay. I nodded and smiled, but I could tell he didn't buy it. Knowing that _someone_ could tell the lies from the truth felt incredible.

After lunch I convinced Ali to go back to the beach and sort out her issues with Drew. Darcy had tried to have another serious talk with me, but I told her that I needed some time to think before we had that discussion again. She agreed and decided to go for a run down the beach. I was finally alone in my room, and never had the room felt more empty or fake. That's when the thoughts of divorce and separation started flowing in like a tsunami.

I had no idea what was going to happen to me after this. I convinced Darcy to go back to Africa for another year, and then she'd be home for good. I knew I wanted her to go, that she deserved it, but it was truly bittersweet. Without her, who could I lean on? Who would understand what I was going through? Never had I felt so unsupported.

Would my parents make me choose between them? That was another question too scary to answer. Where would I live? There were too many questions, and I couldn't bear to be alone with my thoughts anymore. I thought about joining Ali on the beach, but I didn't think I could stand her 'comforting' looks anymore than I could look at Darcy without bursting into tears. My thoughts drifted to Eli.

Eli was there to comfort me yesterday. He would be there for me. Maybe this was a little heavy for beginning of a relationship drama, but he could help. He could make me forget for a while. With this intention, I grabbed my bag and ran out of the house.

Adam's dad answered the door and said that the boys had gone out to the supermarket to pick up some things for Adam's mom and that they'd be back in a couple of minutes. He invited me to wait inside but I hurriedly shook my head, and went back across the street to wait on the porch, the side away from the beach so that Ali and Darcy wouldn't be able to see me.

I compulsively checked my phone to see what time it was, worried that Ali or Darcy would walk back inside. I knew I wasn't going to be able to calm down until I saw Eli. It took him exactly eleven minutes to get back.

**Declan's POV**

This was wrong. On just about every level. Including the one where this was bordering stalker material. I'm a grown-up. This is childish silly behavior. This is not helping the 'friend' status.

I had sunk to new lows. I was currently scrolling through all of Holly J's photos on facebook, and looking at each one of her with Sav with new meaning. They were innocent enough, but now that I knew what was truly going on- oh god, I really have to stop.

It just bothered me how _wrong_ he was for her. Holly J was strong, determined, and presidential material. Not to mention a future Ivy-league student. Sav was, well, Sav. What could she possibly see in him?

"Please tell me that's not Holly J's facebook page." The female voice made me jump, and I nearly fell out of my chair. I quickly reached to shut my laptop, in the most ungraceful motion, which left me half sitting very awkwardly. "Declan, that's creepy."

I turned to see Fiona standing behind me, her hands on her hips. She was trying to look concerned, but she was clearing trying to hide a laugh. "Go ahead," I said, "let it out. I know I deserve it." She laughed, right in my face. "Well, how long have they been going out for?"

"I dunno. Holly j tried to keep it a secret for a while. I mean that's good right? She's embarrassed of him?" She looked at me, but her words did little comfort. "Well, I've known for about a month." I wolf-whistled. I couldn't imagine her putting up with him for more than a week. He couldn't possibly understand her. Not saying that I could (but I definitely could).

"Well did she mention why? I mean they- they just don't make _sense_."

"You're not going to like it." Her words punctured my confidence, but I urged her on. "She said that she likes that he's no drama."

So the truth came out. That's all I was to her: more drama. If I had felt confident about us being meant for each other before, I had lost all hope now. _Drama_; what an ugly word.

"Hey Fiona, can you grab an extra water?" Holly J's voice rang into the room from the open door. To think that I had almost forgotten what a beautiful voice she had. And she had used that voice to call me _drama._

"You sure she didn't mean it in terms of school drama? Like the Gemini Awards or something?" It was a stupid question that didn't really need answering, but Fiona shook her head. With that, she grabbed a water bottle out of the fridge and walked out the door.

I could mumble and complain all I wanted. But hearing those words reminded me about how much I loved Holly J. The truth is she had changed a lot over the past year too. I changed myself early in our relationship, so that I would be able to love her, and she outgrew me. Now it was my turn to grow, and I was determined to do it. I was going to win Holly J back.

**Jenna's POV**

Of all the ways I imagined my spring break going, this was not one of them. I pictured myself getting tan, lying down in the sand with my gorgeous and caring boyfriend relaxing next to me. I certainly hadn't foreseen myself on the beach alone, feeling like total and utter crap. Even Annie had left me half an hour ago complaining that I was too boring and that she wanted KC. She even got his name right now.

I felt a wave of nausea come over me and my hand instinctively flew to my stomach. This was yet another issue I hadn't thought I would ever have to deal with. I wasn't sure, but my body was giving me definite signs. Besides, shouldn't a girl (woman) be able to tell this sort of things? How on Earth could I talk about _that_ with KC? Especially while I was watching him fall in love with another girl. My cousin, of all people.

Okay, maybe falling in love was a bit of an exaggeration. But there were some feelings there and there was a clear lack of feelings when it came to me. I was overcome by a sense of how empty my life seemed. Everything that once had meaning to me felt hollow.

Looking down at my stomach, I made a promise to myself. If there _is_ a baby in there, I will be his or her rock, for the rest of its life. So they, at least, will have someone to depend on.

**Ali's POV**

I walked to the beach with the intention of having a calm and logical discussion. Drew and I were both mature and sensible people, and this was such a silly little misunderstanding. But when I saw him standing at the line where only the biggest waves reach your toes, looking gorgeous, strong, and in every sense of the word, hot, I had to fight with my feet to keep me from running into his arms. Unsurprisingly, they didn't appear open to me at the moment; he kept his arms crossed tightly across his chest.

"Drew?" He turned around and I was greeted by a tiny smile. It was weak, but he seemed to be trying awfully hard to keep it there. "Before you say anything else I want to say I'm sorry. I overreacted, but you have to understand! I was worried about Clare."

"Sorry? You have nothing to be sorry for! I was completely out of line, and you have every right to be mad at me; _I'm_ the one who should be sorry. I made an awful mistake." I could no longer take being so serious, and wrapped my arms around him in an attempt to hug him. He seemed to give the minimal amount of emotion back, but I was too happy to hear him apologize. Being adult wasn't so hard; I could totally do this. "Does this mean you forgive me?"

"Of course, silly goose! Any chance you're up for a romantic stroll down the beach?" I took one of his stony arms and wrapped it around m waist and lead him down the beach. As we continued walked, I leaned myself against him as close as I possibly could. Now I could finally enjoy being with my boyfriend, guilt-free.

**Eli's POV**

This was strange. Actually forget strange, it was bizarre, outlandish, and not completely believable. I was driving a cherry red convertible. _Who the hell drives these things?_

"You sure your sister said it was okay for us to borrow the car?" Clare nodded but continued looking straight ahead. In fact, she hadn't looked at me since we started driving. "Want to tell me where we're going?"

"Just keep driving," she replied. The top was down and the wind pulled her short ringlets in every direction. That combined with her stony attitude and her complete lack of any facial expression made her look pretty scary; scratch that, extremely scary. But underneath the scary exterior, something told me there was a little girl bawling her eyes out.

I had heard from all sorts of sources how harmful divorce could be to the people involved, especially the kids. I never paid too much attention because it never really applied to me. My parents, deranged as they are, seem to work together and the only argument I've ever seen them have was over whose turn it was to wash the dishes (those dishes never got washed; they're probably still in the sink). But watching the destruction up close was another matter entirely.

I've had more than my fair share of drama in my life. But I always dealt with my tribulations by sulking and using sarcasm to the point where people just left me alone. Looking in Clare's direction I could feel that she was different. Actually, I doubted whether she had ever faced a problem of this magnitude before. She simply didn't know how to deal with her feelings.

"Clare, I can't help unless you talk to me." It was so silent that I was reaching the point where I'd give anything just to hear her say _something_.

"I don't want to talk. I just want to drive."

"Sucks that you don't have your license then," I joked. There was no change in her expression. "Running away won't do much good you know. They'll report the car stolen and, let's face it; this isn't a hard car to spot." She shifted in her seat, and I thought for a moment that she might actually smile. She didn't.

"You know, if I get arrested for kidnapping, I'm saying you kidnapped _me._" One lip turned slightly upwards, giving me hope. We drove in silence for another minute, before I took an exit off of the highway. I pulled over in the next quiet street.

"You know I want to help. But this doesn't make me feel like I'm helping, I feel like I'm aiding some illegal action. If you don't want to talk about it, I get it. But at least tell me where to drive to?" She was silent for a moment. I could tell she was trying to decide whether to remain distant and moody, or actually open up. She swayed slightly as if going back and forth between the options. She opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again. Then she spoke, in a very different tone then before.

"Fine. Drive to the next town over? I'm sure we can find something to do." With that, I put the car pack in drive and got on the highway again. We drove in silence till we reached the next town, but I didn't mind the silience as much as before. If Clare didn't want to open up, which she clearly didn't, the least I could do was distract her. And I make a pretty good distraction, if I do say so myself.

In the crowded parking lot in the center of town, Clare stopped staring straight ahead and turned to look at me. "I know I'm being crazy." I started to make a joke about knowing crazy, but she put out her hand to stop me. "But I just – I think I need to not think about this stuff for a little while. Just until I can think everything over clearly. Okay?" I nodded and she leaned back in her seat. I looked at our surroundings, searching for a place to go. My eyes landed on a book store a block down from where we were.

"Used Books Store?" She nodded.

"If there was ever a time to drown oneself in fiction, it would be now."

We left the store an hour and several books later. The Clare walking out of the store was completely different from the one who had walked in. She was smiling, laughing, and didn't seem to mind when reached out to grab her hand. She walked as if she was light as air, and I found her spirit intoxicating. We walked for a while and window shopped. Clare told me about her favorite poems, and I told her about my favorite comics. She told me about her dreams of becoming a journalist, and I told her about my theatrical aspirations. Walking together hand in hand, we seemed to fit. Clare was most certainly a puzzle, and I knew I was too. We were made of several pieces that sometimes came apart and could get all jumbled up. But talking to her made the pieces right again. We were puzzle pieces that fit.

"What are you thinking about?" Clare asks me later, when were sitting on the beach. It'd gotten late, and no one else was on the moon-lit beach anymore. She was licking her mint chocolate chip ice cream cone, while I'd already finished my chocolate one. Truthfully I was thinking about how I could lick the ice cream off her lips, but I had no intention of ever admitting that aloud.

"Just fate. And life. And the universe."

'That's some heavy-duty thinking," she laughed, biting into the cone.

"Yeah, but right now it doesn't seem so – dark." She looked at me and arched one eyebrow.

"Really? Mr. dramatic is thinking that the world is all sunshine, ponies and unicorns?" I laugh with her.

"No. It's more like this," I said, pulling her in for a kiss. She dropped her ice cream cone into the sand, but I don't think she even noticed. We pulled a part for a moment, and I could tell from her smile that she had forgotten about all the drama from this morning. "You know, I really like first-date Clare," I say, pulling her into a second and much longer kiss.

**A/N: **I hope you guys liked it! Thoughts, comments, opinions? Please review!


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